1-0 winners in the first leg, Horoya AC face Al-Merreikh this Saturday 24 October at 17:00 GMT, at a relocated venue, with a ticket to the CAF Champions League group stage on the line.
Horoya AC have just one leg left to see through. This Saturday 24 October at 17:00 GMT, the Guinean club play the second leg of the CAF Champions League second preliminary round against Sudan’s Al-Merreikh, holding a 1-0 advantage earned in the first leg on 18 October, according to Sport News Africa.
The return leg has been relocated because of the security situation in Sudan. Sport News Africa does not specify the exact venue, a detail that does not change the sporting equation: the Guineans must protect their narrow advantage to confirm their return to the group stage of CAF’s premier club competition.
Al-Merreikh condemned to pull off an upset
Al-Merreikh need a win by two goals to turn the tie around and go through. A win by the narrowest margin would therefore not be enough for the Sudanese, who will have to commit men forward to score twice as many as Horoya.
That scenario opens up the prospect for Horoya of playing with the opposition’s margin. The Guinean club have banked on tactical preparation built around defensive discipline to preserve their result. A choice consistent with the stakes: a 1-0 rests on a single moment, in either direction.
A full squad, an experienced refereeing team
For this high-stakes tie, the Guinean side travelled with a full squad, reports Sport News Africa. Horoya therefore intend to secure their continental place with all their strength available.
CAF, for its part, has appointed an experienced international refereeing team for the match, the same source says. The report gives neither the names nor the nationality of the officials.
An attack put to the test of the numbers
The statistics from this season’s preliminary rounds give the measure of the attacking challenge: 79 matches have been played with 174 goals scored, an average of 2.2 per game, according to Sport News Africa. In other words, a three-goal game is far from an anomaly in this format.
Horoya have been warned: in this context, defending a 1-0 exposes you to a single mistake. In the first leg, they had indeed won by the narrowest of margins.
The winner of this tie will join the likes of Petro Luanda and Orlando Pirates, already qualified the day before, according to Sport News Africa.