By Batsirai Sango.
The Caf champions league’s last 8 match ups have all but been confirmed with the draw having been conducted earlier in the day.
The land of the Pharaohs Egypt was the setting for the much awaited draw in the city of Cairo, as quarter final matchups were being confirmed.
Also being the headquarters of the continental football motherbody the honors had to be in the land of the pyramids.
For over a week football lovers on the great motherland have been anxiously and patiently waiting for the draw to learn which of the African football titans will be making a date with each other .
Who could blame them when giants of the game on the continent had all but made it through to the quarter finals.
Petro Luanda of Angola, Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa, Tp Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of the Congo , Young Africans and Simba SC both of the United Republic of Tanzania, Asec Mimosa of the Ivory Coast, Esperance of Tunisia and Al Ahly of Egypt made it to the last 8, and for neutrals the Caf champions league has never been so much competitive and intriguing.
Of all the 8 protagonists there is not a single one you can write off , and the social media buzz since the matchups were confirmed tells a story of epic battles that await us perhaps never witnessed in recent memory in African Club Football competition .
March 12,2024 was a date all the teams in the last 8 were waiting for in anticipation to learn who their nemesis would be in the quarter finals.
And from all the teams that made it there was little or no doubt of them hoping to be paired against that team and not this team, as all of them are giants in their own right.
There is no David versus Goliath and that tells you what quarter final encounters we have on our hands and speaks to the growth and development of the game on the continent .
With the first legs of the quarter finals due on the weekend of March 29, the draw brought match ups that promise some entertaining football.
Mamelodi Sundowns the Tshwane giants take on Young Africans with Yanga faithfuls promising Ronwen Williams Sundowns goalkeeper he wont get a clean sheet at the Benjamin Mkapa stadium in Dar es Salaam.
It promises to be an encounter with fans saying Sundowns will take a break from their north African rivals and get a new breadth with Young Africans.
The other 3 match ups have Petro Luanda taking on Tp Mazembe with Mazembe playing host to the first leg in Lubumbashi, Asec Mimosa locking horns with Esperance the latter hosting their counterparts first in Tunis whilst Al Ahly make a date with Simba SC in Tanzania.
The countdown begins now to March 29 with just over 2 weeks to go, as these quarter final match ups promise to keep the entire continent on the edge of their seats.
The entire continent is represented from Cairo to Cape Town, Nairobi to Accra,from the North to the South, the East to the West, football is coming to life.
Talk about the gospel of the world most beautiful game being spread out through the entire Gigantic mother continent.
Hats off to Caf Supremo Dr. Patrice Motsepe and his team of lieutenants, they surely deserve football sainthood, for being deliberate in seeing to it the entire continent .
