TheCable

USM Alger will look to continue the recent North African dominance in the CAF Champions League when they host TP Mazembe in the first leg final on Saturday.  

This will be the second successive final and third overall between clubs from Algeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo with the North Africans winning the previous two.

Four-time African champions Mazembe last won the title in 2010 before seeing North African sides regain a stranglehold on the trophy since.

The Algiers club have been outstanding at home en route to the final, winning six consecutive qualifying and group games and scoring 14 goals before a 0-0 semi-final draw with Al Hilal of Sudan after winning the first leg 2-1.

Mazembe, whose four titles makes them the third most successful club in the competition after Egyptian outfits Al Ahly (eight) and Zamalek (five), reached the final having won only one of six away games.

They drew two and lost three, all by single-goal margins.

Mazembe host the second leg on an artificial pitch in southern Congolese mining hub Lubumbashi next Sunday.

A $1.5m (£977,000) cheque goes to the winner along with an invite to the even more lucrative FIFA Club World Cup in Japan in December.