We have arrived at the CAFCL Semifinals, and four clubs remain in the 2023/24 CAF Champions League Tournament. What will happen next?
We have arrived at the CAFCL Semifinals, and four clubs remain in the 2023/24 CAF Champions League Tournament.
Since August 18, 2023, the CAF Champions League tourney has been running its course, and a winner will be crowned on May 25, 2024. One of these final four clubs will hoist the hardware, as the 60th version of the event plays out of Africa.
As you all know, I have been giving out my CAFCL predictions since the 2010 version of the event, coinciding with the 2010 World Cup, also held on African soil. I made all of my predictions public for the first time in 2018 at a site called SportsKeeda, and boy did I garner some attention for that!
The Esperance club got wind of my bold prediction for their club to win the 2018 event, and they indeed went on to win the title. If you also recall, when the team won the 2018 CAFCL title, the folks in Tunisia arranged to send me a customized Esperance #10 Jersey with my name on the back. No, really, it’s true, here’s my reaction when it arrived on my YouTube channel… Open Here.
Still brings a tear to my eyes when I watch that video! What a great day that was in my life, and Ithink I might be making another bold call this season again!
Alright, let’s get to the two semifinal affairs, and then I’ll get to my final prediction to win this kit and kaboodle.
On April 19, Esperance and the Mamelodi Sundowns will play the front leg of their semifinal tie in Tunisia.
The next day, Al Ahly will head to the Congo to face Mazembe in the first of their two-legged showdown.
A week later the clubs will switch venues and play another battle, and the aggregate goals will decide which two teams reach the final game.
Al Ahly is the favourites to win this year’s tournament… again! The Egyptian side has won three of the last four CAFCL titles, and the line setters like their chances to do it again this year.
The big board of odds that I can find is listed at Betway, and I hope the lines for the matches and any future betting come to the States so I can bet on this stuff.
Here are the odds I have found to win the CAFCL title.
Al Ahly 2.38 (+138)
Mamelodi Sundowns 2.88 (+188)
Esperance 5.00 (+400)
Mazembe 8.50 (+750)
As I noticed the lines for the opening semifinal matches, a few things stood out to me.
First of all, Mazembe is favoured at home against Ahly.
Mazembe 2.50 – XDraw 2.88 – Al Ahly 2.88
It might not seem like much, but when you look at the DNB offer, 1.73 is pretty steep for Mazembe at home on the 0/Pk Handicap while Ahly is even money at 2.00.
So the club at the bottom of the odds to win the whole thing is expected to win their opening match? Interesting, but yet Ahly is favoured to win the whole thing, and that makes this battle one to watch now!
Secondly, I would love to see Ahly knocked out of the semifinals despite the serious momentum it would give Mazembe. Mazembe hasn’t hoisted the CAFCL hardware since 2015, although they are tied with Zamalek with five titles. Al Ahly easily has the most wins with 11, and Esperance sits with 4 CAFCL titles.
Speaking of Esperance… I can’t wait until the club gets notice of this prediction.
It’s coming! No, not my prediction, the fact is that Esperance is about to claim title #5 on May 25.
I love the way the club is playing, and defensively, they are just in sync and consistently keeping balls out of their net. Amenallah Memmiche has been ridiculous over the last four games of CAFCL action, not allowing a single ball to tickle the twine behind him.
In 8 appearances in the CAFCL this tournament, Memmiche has put up 7 clean sheets along with his defensive front wall.
I could go into all of this for the entire day and put up 15,000 words of a preview, but the point is… who wins the damn thing!!
ESPERANCE WILL BE YOUR 2023/24 CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TITLE HOLDERS!
At +400, I have two words left for you… YOU’RE WELCOME!
FORZA ESPERANZA!! Go Blood and Gold, and let’s see if I can help them out with my prediction as it did in both 2018 and 2019. Yes, I called for that one too, although that ended in a tumultuous fashion that we won’t discuss.
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