JOHANNESBURG: Title holders Etoile Sahel of Tunisia lead a group of giants fighting for African Champions League survival this weekend. Other former winners who must overcome first-leg deficits in the final qualifying round for the group stage are Al Ahly of Egypt, JS Kabylie of Algeria, Club Africain of Tunisia and TP Mazembe of DR Congo. And 1998 champions ASEC Mimosas of Ivory Coast are also in trouble after being held at home by debutants Olympique Khouribga of Morocco in the $3.5 million competition two weeks ago. Currency law changes in inflation-battered Zimbabwe almost forced Dynamos to withdraw from their return match against Etoile in the Mediterranean resort of Sousse Saturday. The local cost of the $50,000 trip soared from 300 billion Zimbabwe dollars to 10 trillion and it took a financial injection from an undisclosed source to rescue the Harare club. Dynamos won 1-0 in Harare thanks to a second half goal from veteran striker Desmond Maringwa, sole survivor of the team that finished runners-up to ASEC 10 years ago. Ahly, shock home losers to Etoile in the final last year as they sought a record sixth title, trail South African minnows Platinum Stars 2-1 ahead of the return encounter Sunday in their Cairo Stadium fortress. The Red Devils have "imploded since returning from Pretoria, surrendering their 25-match unbeaten league record with two consecutive losses while Portuguese coach Manuel Jose has promised to tear Platinum apart. Stars Argentine coach Miguel Gamondi believes the salvation of a club promoted to top-flight football just five years ago lies in attacking Ahly with Edward Williams a key figure. Williams snatched the stoppage-time first leg winner, racing on a headed pass from Simba Marumo and slamming the ball wide of under-fire goalkeeper Amir Abdulhamid. Succeeding the best goalkeeper in Africa, Switzerland-based Essam El-Hadary, was never going to be easy and Abdulhamid angrily rejected media blame for the Platinum goals. Ahly should survive as they have failed to score at home only five times in 80-plus Champions League outings and Jose will expect strikers Emad Moteab and Flavio Amado to inflict the damage against a Platinum team without stars. Mazembe, one of just three clubs to successfully defend the title since its 1965 inception, are in a similar position to Ahly as they confront Al-Ittihad of Libya who exceeded expectations by reaching the semi-finals last year. Lubumbashi in south-east Congo is no place for faint hearted footballers with a hard, bumpy pitch and ultra-partisan supporters, and Ittihad will do well to escape elimination far from their Tripoli base. Kabylie regained the Algerian title last weekend and can now concentrate on the unexpectedly difficult task of wiping out a 3-0 loss to perennial African underachievers Cotonsport Garoua of Cameroon. That task is probably just within reach of the team from the eastern city of Tizi Ouzou, but if a Garoua side coached by Frenchman Denis Lavagne score once they will surely clinch a first appearance in the pool phase. Club Africain, the first Tunisian winners of the competition 17 years ago, appear beyond hope after a disastrous finish to the first leg against Enyimba ended with a humiliating 5-1 defeat in Nigeria. The North Africans had two players sent off before conceding two stoppage-time goals against opponents who traveled to Tunisia boasting a 100 percent record after five Champions League matches this year. ASEC came within five minutes of departing in the previous round before snatching victory over Kaloum in Guinea, but Khouribga pose a more serious challenge and must be favored to reach the last eight at the first attempt. Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa, whose mining magnate owner Patrice Motsepe craves African glory, trail 2007 semi-finalists Al-Hilal of Sudan 4-2 ahead of an intriguing return encounter near Pretoria. Zamalek of Egypt, who share the Champions League record of five titles with bitter local rivals Ahly, appear the one banker of the round as they take a 3-0 advantage over Angolan police team InterClube to Luanda.
