Medeama’s hopes of advancing to the knockout stage of the CAF Champions League suffered a significant setback on Wednesday as they were soundly defeated by Yanga SC in Tanzania.

The Ghanaian champions delivered a lacklustre performance, succumbing to a 3-0 defeat that now places their qualification hopes in jeopardy.

Striker Jonathan Sowah had an opportunity to level the score with a penalty after Medeama conceded the first goal in the first half. However, Sowah, despite winning the penalty, failed to convert.

Unfortunately for Medeama, Yanga capitalised on this miss, leading to a demoralized Medeama conceding twice more at the Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium.

To compound Medeama’s woes, Sowah was later sent off in the closing stages of the game, further diminishing their chances in their next crucial match against Al Ahly in Kumasi, as he will be unavailable.

With this convincing victory, Yanga have climbed to the second position in the group with five points, tying with leaders Al Ahly, who have also accumulated five points but have played one game less. Medeama now find themselves in third place with four points, level with Algerian champions CR Belouizdad, who also have a game in hand.

The scheduled clash between Al Ahly and Belouizdad in Cairo has been postponed due to Al Ahly’s participation in the Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia, adding further complexity to the Group D dynamics in the CAF Champions League.