Wydad set to stretch winning run as VAR debuts

CASABLANCA, Morocco: Wydad Casablanca should continue a run of Moroccan successes Saturday by lifting the CAF Super Cup, the first match in Africa to use the video assistant referee (VAR) system.

The Casablanca club won the CAF Champions League last November, the same month that the national team qualified for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Morocco then hosted and won the African Nations Championship for home-based footballers this month by thrashing Nigeria 4-0 in the final.

Now it the turn of Wydad again to try and bring more glory to the kingdom, which has been ranked among the top 10 African football nations for decades. They face TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo in the one-off Super Cup match, an annual showdown between the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup title-holders.

In 25 previous match-ups, 22 have been won by the African champions, and the reason is not hard to find. Neutral venues were used for three seasons before being scrapped because of poor crowd support and CAF gave the Champions League winners home advantage rather than adopt a two-leg approach.