Esperance crowned African champions

Ghana defender Harrison Afful scored midway through the first half to give Tunisian club Esperance a 1-0 victory over Moroccan visitors Wydad Casablanca on Saturday and the African Champions League trophy.Afful darted down the right flank, cut inside and unleased an unstoppable left-foot shot that flew past stand-in goalkeeper Yassine Bounou for the tie-clincher after a 0-0 first-leg draw in Casablanca last Sunday.Wydad were reduced to 10 men in first-half stoppage time when defender Mourad El Massane was red carded after an off-the-ball incident with giant Cameroonian striker Yannick Ndjeng.Esperance won the competition in 1994 when it was called the African Champions Cup and have finished runners-up three times since, most recently when humiliated 6-1 overall last year by TP Mazembe from the Democratic Republic of Congo.The closeness of the decider was no surprise as Esperance and Wydad also drew twice in the group phase, 2-2 in Casablanca and 0-0 in Rades, on the outskirts of the Tunisian capital.Success boosted the Esperance bank balance by $1.5 million and they have a chance to earn much more when competing at the Fifa Club World Cup in Japan during December with star-saturated European champions Barcelona possible opponents.
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