Trailing since the 32nd minute, ASEC Mimosas salvaged a 1-1 draw against Maghreb de Fès thanks to Bamba Souhalio, who equalised in the 90th+3, in the first leg of the second preliminary round of the CAF Champions League.
The clock showed 90th+3 when Bamba Souhalio popped up to bring the two teams level. On the pitch at the Stade d’Honneur in Meknès, ASEC Mimosas salvaged a 1-1 draw against Maghreb de Fès in the first leg of the second preliminary round of the CAF Champions League.
The Abidjan club had been chasing the score since the 32nd minute, when Noureddine Oussama, MAS’s attacking midfielder, broke the deadlock and put his side ahead. Maghreb de Fès were playing their first CAF Champions League campaign in several years, according to Sport News Africa.
A goal deep into stoppage time
It took until the closing moments to see ASEC claw back the deficit. Bamba Souhalio, the Ivorian striker, grabbed the equaliser deep into stoppage time, in the 90th+3, with MAS having led 1-0 since the 32nd minute.
FAAPA and Sport News Africa consider this draw crucial. According to FAAPA, the Abidjan club is the last Ivorian representative still in the running for a place in the group stage of Africa’s top club competition.
An advantage to confirm in Abidjan
That away goal gives ASEC Mimosas a strategic advantage ahead of the return leg, Sport News Africa points out. The Ivorian club will therefore play for qualification in front of their own fans, on Sunday 25 October at the Stade Félix-Houphouët-Boigny in Abidjan.
Maghreb de Fès, for their part, will have to go and get a result on the road, after seeing ASEC come back level in stoppage time. The advantage still has to be confirmed on the pitch, though: nothing is settled for the Ivorians.
The draw in their sights
The stakes go beyond the return leg alone. The winner on aggregate will qualify for the group stage draw, scheduled for 28 October in Cairo, according to the CAF. Three days after the match in Abidjan, the qualifiers will learn their future opponents.
Maghreb de Fès, back in the competition, can also target that draw, provided they turn the tie around in the return leg.