Africa Sports

Vipers and TP Mazembe square off, with a draw being the result.

Vipers SC Vipers, representing Uganda in the CAF Champions League Qualifier, and TP Mazembe drew 0-0 in the first leg of their matchup on Sunday at St Mary's stadium in Kitende.

Kitende, Uganda | BAZZUP | Vipers SC Vipers, representing Uganda in the CAF Champions League Qualifier, and TP Mazembe drew 0-0 in the first leg of their matchup on Sunday at St Mary’s stadium in Kitende.

Vipers missed an opportunity to take use of their home field advantage against the five-time African champions, as their rivals earned an important away point in the two-leg match.

The visitors used their knowledge of continental football from the first minute and looked strong. Even though Vipers had two defensive midfielders, Zemanga Soze and Ngalamulume Bato Merceil Ngimbi controlled the midfield and failed to give their team any real chances.

Sixteen minutes later, Wilfrid Nkaya had a good shot on goal for the hosts, but Vipers goalkeeper Alfred Mudekereza was up to the task and prevented the hosts from scoring an early goal.

The visitors kept trying to breach the Vipers defense, which was led by Murushid Juuko, who had a number of interceptions, but they were unsuccessful.

When TP Mazembe’s goalkeeper left the game hobbling before the first half was over, they were obliged to make a substitution.

Isa Mubiru, a midfielder for Vipers, missed a clear opportunity to score at the start of the second half. The latter half saw very little chances generated by either team, resulting in a final score of 0-0.

Head coach of TP Mazembe Frabk Dumas expressed his happiness at earning a point in a game played away from home to the media. It was a solid game, and I was pleased with the level of play. He added, “Let’s wait for the return leg. There are no easy games in the Champions League.”

Roberto Oliviera, the head coach of Vipers SC, told URN that despite his team’s inability to earn all possible points, he is pleased with their performance.

Nevertheless, he insisted that this won’t deter them from working toward their goal of reaching their first Champions League group stages.

The two clubs will now square off in Lubumbashi for the second leg of this matchup in a week. The champion overall will advance to the lucrative Champions League group stages.

While TP Mazembe has been casually qualifying for the group stages, Vipers is attempting to break their lifetime group stage curse.

Vipers would be the second club from Uganda to get to the Champions League group stages after Kampala Capital City Authority-KCCA FC in 2018. The Venoms will instead advance to the CAF Confederation Cup playoff round if they fail the Mazembe test.

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