Liberia first division champions, Barrack Young Controllers, missed out on playing in the group stage of 2017 CAF Champions League after losing 4-1 to Mozambican Clube Ferrovario de Beira on penalty shootouts, but they will play in Africa’s second biggest club tournament.
The Go Blue Boys lost the first leg 2-0 away from home before putting out a spectacular display at the Antoinette Tubman Stadium over the weekend where they won by 2-0 in full 90 minutes before bowing out on penalties.
A header from midfielder Yaya Bility in the 15th minute and a goal from Prince Kennedy from the spot kick in the 27th minute were enough for BYC to overturn the 2-0 scoreline to make it 2-2 on aggregate. BYC’s first half display had given fans in the stadium the hopes of more goals in the second half. However, they failed to repeat their form following the substitution of the speedy winger, Prince Saydee, and midfield engineer, David Tweh, in the second half.
The substitution broke down their pace, allowing the visitors to control possession in the early minutes of the second half. Despite having some control, Ferrovario de Beira failed to pull a goal back until the dying minutes of the encounter when BYC regained their form to get control of the match.
With five minutes to end the match, the Mozambicans lost the possession to BYC but kept their defense in tight to prevent the Blue Boys from scoring. Knowing that the match would extend to the penalty spot to decide the winner, Ferrovario brought in the substitute goalkeeper, Soares V. Soares, who became the man of the day after saving two of BYC’s penalties to help his side to a 4-1 win.
BYC has missed out on playing in Africa’s premier club competition, but the three-time national league champions have been given the chance to play in the group stage of the Confederation Cup.
In a draw held on Tuesday, March 21 among 16 clubs that failed to qualify for the group stage of the Champions League and 16 clubs that qualified from the first round qualifiers of the Confederation Cup qualifiers, BYC was drawn against South African club SuperSports United for the playoffs qualifiers.
The draw comes as a tough test for BYC, which will go against a club that has won 11 major titles in South Africa, including the ABSA Premiership three times in a row from 2007 to 2010.
BYC will play the first leg at home on the weekend of April 7-9 before traveling to South Africa to honor the return leg in a week time.
Featured photo by T. Kla Wesley Jr.
