More than 40 years after they last won the top prize in African club
football, TP Mazembe are on the brink of returning to the CAF Champions League final.

The Lubumbashi-based club are expected to compete a routine assignment when they host Al Hilal of Sudan in the second leg of their semi-final on Sunday. Mazembe won 5-2 away in the first leg a fortnight ago, and it would take a minor miracle for them to be denied progress to their first final since 1970.

Mazembe appeared in four successive finals in a row at a time when they were among the dominant forces in Africa. Les Corbeaux were winners in 1967 and 1968 and runners-up the next two years.

Now a new generation looks to end decades of waiting for a return to
greatness for Mazembe, who have remained a perennial figure on the
continental scene through the last 40 years but never been able to match their halcyon days. Coach Diego Garzitto, an Italy-born Frenchman, has brought the best out of a talented squad who have peaked after a steady build-up of experience over the years.

Tresor Mputu has been prolific in the Champions League for years now, although ironically he has not been as successful this campaign despite Mazembe's progress. Instead the responsibility has been spread out among the squad, and the likes of Alain Kaluyitukadioko, Lusadisu Basisila and Kubangu Mulota have also emerged as key players in this year's tournament.

Sunday's match at the Stade Kinasa Maliba will determine who takes on
Heartland FC of Nigeria in next month's final, also to be played over two legs. Mazembe's usual home ground, the Stade Kenya, is closed for hasty repairs in anticipation of the final.

A three-goal lead going into the home leg would ordinarily be the recipe for 90 minutes of celebratory football, but Garzitto has insisted this week his team will work on a serious performance, not only to win but to win well in front of their home crowd. His players have been away in a training camp, enforced by the return from international duty of Zambia international Given Singuluma, who had come on as a second-half substitute in last weekend's 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ qualifier against Egypt.

Al Hilal will try for a face-saving result, but their imminent elimination is made harder by the fact they were also knocked out in the semi-finals in 2007. The Sudanese champions traveled by charter plane to Lubumbashi on Friday without injured pair Ahmed Adel and Mohamed Al Naim.