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Caf Confederation Cup: JS Kayblie and Raja Casablanca qualify for final

JS Kabylie and Raja Casablanca will battle it out in the 2020-21 Caf Confederation Cup final on July 10 after Sunday's semi-finals.

Following a 2-1 lead from last Sunday’s outing, JS Kabylie defeated Coton Sport 3-0 in the second leg of the semi-final fixture, while Raja Casablanca required a penalty shoot-out to beat Egyptian club Pyramids 5-4.

Three first-half goals were enough for hosts JSK to stamp their authority at the Stade du 5 Juillet and they advanced to the final stage with a 5-1 aggregate win.

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Denis Lavagne’s men continued from where they left off in Cameroon a week ago, with Zakaria Boulahia grabbing the opening goal in the sixth minute.

Some minutes after the half hour-mark, Badreddine Souyad converted from the penalty spot to double JS Kabylie’s lead.

The game was finally put beyond Coton's reach after Boulahia scored his second of the night just before the interval, thanks to an assist from Walid Bencherifa.

JS Kabylie, who are currently fourth in the Algerian Ligue 1, now have the opportunity to win a continental title since 2002 when they clinched the abolished Caf Cup for a third time.

In the other semi-final clash, Raja Casablanca and Pyramids found it tricky to break each other down after 180 minutes of football across both legs.

A week ago, Pyramids held the Moroccan giants to a goalless draw in Cairo and it was a penalty shoot-out that separated both teams.

Sunday's outing started as a tense encounter at the Stade Mohamed V with both teams picking three yellow cards each within 60 minutes.

After the goalless affair, the encounter proceeded to a shoot-out where Raja came out victorious with a 5-4 win.

Soufiane Rahimi converted the first strike for the hosts followed two missed attempts by Ben Malango and Senad Al Warfali.

Meanwhile, Ramadan Sobhi missed Pyramids' second attempt and they were close to winning the shoot-out before Mohamed Farouk misplaced their last attempt, putting the score at 3-3.

Mohamed Azrida and Osama Galal converted for both teams, then Fabrice Ngoma and Ahmed Tawfik could not put their efforts into the back of the net.

Raja went ahead again with Abdelilah Madkour making it 5-4 and Mohamed Hamdy missed his chance for Pyramids.

The victory boosts Raja Casablanca's dreams of winning the Caf Confederation Cup for a second time when they battle JS Kabylie in the final scheduled for Stade de l'Amitie in Cotonou next month.

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