By THE CITIZEN

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Young Africans, popularly known as Yanga, are the first Tanzanian side to reach the semi-finals in the Confederation of African Football Cup (CAF), Africa’s equivalent of the UEFA Champions League.

Yanga were held 0-0 at home by Rivers United of Nigeria but won 2-0 on aggregate thanks to a brace from Congolese Fiston Kalala Mayele in West Africa last weekend.

The return match was temporarily halted during the first half due to a power outage at the national stadium.

Tanzanian giants will now face South African side Marumo Gallants who eliminated Egyptian Club Pyramids for a place in the final, with the first leg in Dar es Salaam on May 13 and the return match on May 20.

Former African champions ASEC Mimosas of the Ivory Coast scored in added time at the end of each half to defeat US Monastir of Tunisia 2-0 and qualify on aggregate by the same score line.

Franck ZouZou broke the deadlock in Bouake with his first goal of the African campaign and Pacome Zouzoua sealed success with his third in the CAF Cup this season.

FAR Rabat, considered the strongest title contenders after an impressive run to the knockout stage, bowed out despite beating USM Alger of Algeria 3-2 in the Moroccan capital.

USM advanced 4-3 on aggregate to a last-four showdown with ASEC after building a two-goal first-leg advantage over the 2005 CAF winners.

Algerian Oussama Chita conceded an eighth-minute own goal to offer FAR hope, but Saadi Radouani equalised just four minutes later.

Cape Verde international Diney Borges gave FAR a 2-1 lead on the night after 60 minutes only for USM to level again, through Khaled Bousseliou 12 minutes from time.

Moroccan Mohamed Hrimat converted a penalty deep in added time to give the military club a hollow victory.

CAF Confederation Cup semi-finals pairings:

Young Africans (TAN) v Marumo Gallants (RSA)

ASEC Mimosas (CIV) v USM Alger (ALG)

First legs: May 14; second legs: May 21

Note: Aggregate winners qualify for two-leg final