SuperSport Face Trips To Both Madagascar And Sudan
SuperSport United will need to beat teams from both Madagascar and Sudan if they're going to secure a spot in the group stages of the 2017 CAF Confederations Cup. Read: Zungu Unhappy, Loan Move On The Cards? Matsatsantsa are playing in the tournament after clinching the Nedbank Cup title against Orlando Pirates at the end of last season, with Stuart Baxter having his third venture into the continent after playing the CAF Champions League with Kaizer Chiefs twice. The draw for the 2017 CCC took place on Wednesday and it was confirmed that SuperSport's first opponents in the competition will be Elgeco Plus of Madagascar, who finished as runners-up in their own league last time out. This year's competition will be Elgeco's third appearance since 2014, however they are yet to make it past the preliminary round after losing to St Michel United in 2014 and URA of Uganda in 2015. While SuperSport are expected to beat their Madagascan counterparts, things could get tougher in the first round when they will have to make the trip to Sudan to face Al-Ahly Shendi, who are playing in the competition for the sixth consecutive year. Beating Shendi will then see Baxter's side face one of the 16 teams that drop out of the CCL in a playoff round for the group stages. The new format of CAF's inter-club competitions means that the 16 winners of the playoff games will proceed to the group stages, where there will now be four groups rather than the two that have been in place in recent years.
