ES Zarzis’ hopes of progressing in the CAF Confederation Cup suffered a major setback as they were beaten 3-1 at home by AS Real Bamako in the first leg of their second preliminary-round tie.
The Malian side took control from the start, with Fousseyni Tangara, wearing number 12, opening the scoring early in the match. His goal silenced the crowd at the stadium and unsettled the ES Zarzis defence.
The hosts struggled to respond and were unable to find a tactical solution to contain AS Real Bamako’s attacking threat. Despite being pushed back, ES Zarzis could not establish the control needed to turn the match around.
AS Real Bamako extended their advantage after the break when Andre Kamate, number 20, took advantage of defensive errors to score twice. His second-half double left the Tunisian side facing a three-goal deficit and severely reduced their hopes of recovering in the first leg.
ES Zarzis did manage to score late on, with Al Habibi finding the net in added time to reduce the deficit to 3-1. However, the goal came too late to change the outcome and left the home side with a difficult task ahead of the return match.
The result puts ES Zarzis in a precarious position before the second leg. The Tunisian club must now produce a significant away performance to overturn the two-goal deficit and eliminate AS Real Bamako.
Their defeat at home has left them with little margin for error in the second preliminary round of the CAF Confederation Cup. Adverse to the first-leg result, ES Zarzis will need to win by at least two goals in the return match to keep their qualification hopes alive.