Almost everyone, except themselves, expected the Nile Special League and Cecafa champions to be walloped in the Africa Champions League by Angola´s AS Aviacao in Luanda. The SC Villa squad of 18 however had two secret "weapons of destruction".

The first weapon was their Yugoslav tactician Sredejovic Milutin Micho who had done his homework on the Angolan champions and thus set his tactics accordingly.

The second weapon was the players themselves: their self-belief and teamwork.

"Let´s go and play like one head with 22 legs," Micho told his mostly inexperienced charges just before kick-off. And play like one head with 22 legs they did despite going down 0-1 late in the first half. By the time the referee blew for time, it was SC Villa celebrating a away 1-2 victory.

A would be first half equaliser by Nestory Kizito was unbelievably cancelled by the South African referees to the utter amazement of the crowd and the Aviacao players themselves.

Then came the most unsportsmanly attack on Philip Ssozi that left the hard working midfielder in coma with an injured spinal cord and a deep cut under the eyes. The referees waved play on until it was obvious Ssozi was unconscious.

Ssozi was replaced by Isabirye and the battle continued.

First half ended in favour of the hosts. But SC Villa became alive when the referee blew for restart. Emmanuel Balyejjusa was replaced by Vincent Tendwa and while Ismail Kigozi came on for Hakim Magumba.

SC Villa then went on rampage and Alex Isabirye soon made it 1-1. With 15 minutes to go, Vincent Tendwa made it 1-2 and it was clear it was going to be Micho and the Boys having to laugh all the way back to Entebbe and Kampala via Johannesburg.

SC Villa's fantastic second half display earned them the respect of the Angolan fans who lined up on both sides of the streets to cheer the Ugandans as they returned to their Hotel Mundial.

Such was SC Villa's victory that even the Angolan skies wept in joy: For the first time in more than a week, the skies over Luanda opened and it rained the whole night to temper the extreme high humidity and coastal temperatures here.

SC Villa now need only a draw to advance to the next stage and face either Hearts of Oak or AS Douannes. In fact SC Villa can even afford a 1-0 loss at home and still advance on the away goals rule.

But Coach Micho is not taking anything for granted.

He said the biggest task now is to get the boys down to earth to make them ready for the return leg in Namboole on 26 April. "We must make sure they realise that it is not all over yet. Aviacao is a very good team, and what we have done to them in Luanda they can do to us in Namboole. So we can't let our guard down, we have to work even harder in Kampala," Micho said.

The team was treated to a Luanda beach side party by club officials: Francisco Mugabe, Andrew Kasagga Zzimwe, Ogen Kevin Aliro, Andrew Patrick Luwandagga and Magembe.

The contingent of 18 is expected home at 1.00pm on Wednesday.

Line up in Luanda: Posnet Omwony, Godfrey Kateregga, Nestory Kizito, Emmanuel Balyejjusa (Vincent Tendwa), Andy Mwesigwa, Sam Mubiru, Philip ssozi (Alex Isabirye), Dan Obote, Edgar Watson, Hakim Magumba (Ismael Kigozi), Kasongo Ekutchu.

Elsewhere on the continent, Zamalek were among several former winners who had comfortable victories in their opening matches of the new campaign at the weekend.

Hazem Imam, who captained Egyptian club Zamalek to the African Champions League title last year, returned from injury to inspire his side to a 3-0 win in the opening match of the new campaign in Cairo on Sunday night.

The former Udinese midfielder came on as a second-half substitute to set up one goal and scored another himself as Zamalek beat Nzoia Sugar of Kenya 3-0 in their first round, first leg match.

The defending champions were being held at half-time by the Kenyan visitors but Imam set up the opening goal for Abdelhalim Ali 10 minutes after the interval and then added the second himself.

Veteran striker Hossam Hassan scored the third to set up a handy lead for the second leg in Kenya in two weeksÕ time.

Two goals from Francois Dikoumbe helped Canon Yaounde of Cameroon to an impressive 5-0 win over Al Merreikh of Sudan on Sunday while perennial favorites Esperance also won by five against Rayon Sport of Rwanda in Tunis on Saturday.

ASEC Abidjan, who were victorious in the competition five years ago and semi-finalists last year, won 3-0 at home to AS Niamey of Niger in Abidjan on Sunday.

But Hearts of Oak, who were the winners in 2000 but then crashed out in the early rounds of the last two editions, again look in a precarious position after a narrow 1-0 home win over AS Douanes from neighbouring Togo.

Wisdom AbbeyÕs goal on 60 minutes spared the blushes of the home side but Hearts still face a difficult trip across the border to Lome for the second leg on April 27.

Ismailia of Egypt, who won the tournament 34 years ago, also won by a single goal at home in their first leg match against Zanaco of Zambia on Saturday with Egyptian international Amr Fahim scoring on the stroke of half-time.

Burkina Faso international Narcisse Yameogo scored twice for SenegalÕs Jeanne dÕArc in their 2-0 win over ASFA Yennenga, champions of his home country, in Dakar on Saturday.

In the African Cup WinnersÕ Cup, Wydad Casablanca made a modest start to the defence of their title with as 2-0 home win over ASC Nasr de Sebkha of Mauritania.

A first half penalty from Mohamed Madihi and a late goal did not provide the impressive opening game performance Wydad were looking for.

Nigeria`s Julius Berger scored the largest margin of victory in the Cup Winners Cup first round, first leg matches by beating Jeunesse Sportive Libreville of Gabon 4-0 in Abeotuka on Friday.

The result marked the 200th win by a Nigerian club in African club competition.

The return matches will be played on the weekend of April 25-27 with the winners going through to the second