Beware of Tunisian nightmare

all the noise the Glamour Boys made last year, for the way Egyptian referee Fahim Omar gave them a raw deal in Algiers, the cancer is spreading rapidly in that part of the continent.
And, too bad, isn’t it, that Dynamos’ next Champions League assignment is in North Africa?
Well, if the Glamour Boys felt what they endured in Algeria last year, as they crashed to a 0-3 defeat, was an isolated thing, then they are mistaken because they could be in for some rough treatment on the field in Tunisia.
Only this weekend, Rwandan crack army side, APR, were victims of the gamesmanship common in North Africa and that it all happened in Tunisia, should be interesting to the DeMbare family.
APR, who were held to a 0-0 draw by Etoile du Sahel in Kigali in a Champions League tie two weeks ago, crashed to a 2-3 loss in controversial circumstances in the Tunisian city of Souse on Friday night.
Etoile went ahead in Souse in the ninth minute courtesy of an excellent goal from Lassad Jaziri but APR fought back and equalised in the 39th minute, through Uganda import Dan Wagaluka, to gain the advantage.
With an away goal hanging over their heads, Etoile du Sahel panicked and APR took full advantage and in the second half, Burundian international Papy Faty, fired the Rwandan side into the lead.
At 2-1, with two away goals to the good, APR were cruising home.
But the drama was just starting.
Minutes after giving his team the lead, Faty was sent off by Ghanaian referee Agbovi William, leaving the visitors a man short for the rest of the game.
Buoyed by their numerical advantage, Etoile poured forward in numbers but the game was still 1-2, in favour of the Rwandan side, at the end of regulation time.
Jaziri scored his second of the afternoon, and the equaliser for the home side, to make it 2-2, with the game having just spilled into time added on.
But still the power was with the visitors, who were at that point going through on away goals.
Then, the home team’s fans stormed onto the pitch, causing all sorts of chaos and leading to the game’s stoppage.
When order was restored, and the game resumed, there were a good 12 minutes from the time that the game restarted, when it had already stopped in time added on, to the time that Etoile grabbed the decisive third goal.
You can only spare a thought for the unlucky Rwandans.
But you can also see the same script being written for the Glamour Boys who will take on African Champions League title holders, Esperance of Tunisia, in the second round.
And, with the second leg set for Harare, the Tunisians would be out to inflict the greatest damage possible at home — by hook or crook.
Rewind to Algeria last year.
DeMbare’s world collapsed around them in Algeria last year when they crashed to a 0-3 defeat in a first round, second leg tie against MC Alger in an ill-tempered match in Algiers.
Having won the first leg 4-1 at Rufaro, playing some breathtaking football, the Glamour Boys were bullied in Algiers by their hostile hosts and amid the flurry of controversial decisions, which went against them, the DeMbare players lost their way.
Defence pillar, Guthrie Zhokinyi, and midfielder, Archford Gutu, were expelled and the Algerians scored three times, including twice in the second half with the decisive third goal coming in added time, to tie the aggregate score 4-4 and win on the away goals rule.
Seven yellow cards were flashed in the faces of Dynamos’ players.
DeMbare officials protested furiously to Caf over the way the Egyptian referee, Fahim Omnar, handled that match but, as is usually the case when it comes to such cases, their complaints fell on dear ears.
Delegation leader, Austin Chishanga, a Zifa Councillor, called the match a fraudulent act, blaming shadowy syndicates for the way Dynamos were punished by the match officials.
Chishanga, Zifa’s longest serving councilor, claimed Caf had been converted into a shadowy kingdom of syndicates that were squeezing the spirit of Fair Play out of the game in a ruthless and greedy pursuit of their agendas.
He claimed football on the continent had lost its soul and it was time for a reality check.
“It appears it’s now a North African syndicate against teams from other regions, especially Southern Africa,” said Chishanga.
“This is not good for our football and we cannot develop our game if we are to continue in this way.
“No wonder why Kaizer Chiefs of South Africa have withdrawn from this tournament.
“I think what needs to be done now is to join forces as members of Cosafa and fight these syndicates.”
Chishanga’s comments followed claims by TP Mazembe owner, Moise Katumbi, that there was a shadowy plot by North African teams to try and stop the emergence of powerful clubs in Southern Africa who can dominate the Champions League.
“There seems to be a conspiracy by jealousy people, particularly from the Northern part of Africa who do not appear to be happy that a team from sub-Saharan Africa has won the premier African Championship,” Katumbi told Sunshine Press.
“I read in the media that Mazembe tried to bribe referees in the previous match played in Lubumbashi, but to me this smacks of a smear campaign, like people just do not want that the North African dominance of continental football is waning.”
Mazembe were later thrown out of the tournament for allegedly fielding an ineligible player, Janvier Besala Bokungu, whom Caf ruled was still contracted to Esperance.
That Esperance went on to win the Champions League, after Mazembe’s disqualification, rubbed salt into the Congolese wounds.
However, in a dramatic twist of events, Fifa’s Dispute Resolution Chamber last week nullified TP Mazembe’s disqualification and ruled that the Congolese giants were right to use the defender during that Champions League campaign last year.
Mazembe, who announced the Fifa decision at the weekend at their base in Lubumbashi, promised to take all the necessary actions for the team to be adequately compensated for having erroneously been thrown out of the Champions League.
“We were notified of the Dispute Resolution Chamber’s decision a day ago, which gave us victory in our case against Caf for disqualifying us from last year’s Champions League,” a spokesman for the two-time African champions told reporters in Lubumbashi on Sunday.
“The notification is without any ambiguity. The complaint of Esperance Tunis against us was simply rejected by the DRC. After the chamber’s official announcement of the decision, we will take all necessary actions for the total rehabilitation of our team and will tell the world that we were unjustly treated.”