Big three on home front

South Africa's three remaining sides in African club competition - the so-called "big three" - will face contrasting challenges tomorrow when they host opposition from around the continent in the hope of taking a decisive first-leg advantage ahead of some devilishly difficult away ties.

Mamelodi Sundowns host powerful TP Mazembe from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Chiefs entertain top Moroccan club Raja Casablanca in the African Champions League, while Orlando Pirates face an easier challenge against Uganda Revenue Authority in the African Confederation Cup.

TP Mazembe need no introduction to local fans. Their appalling reputation for rough-house tactics and skulduggery off the pitch was well in evidence two years ago when they clashed with Pirates in the Champions League.

Congo sides were banned from CAF events in the mid-1990s due to their off-field actions, and they continue to try to influence officials when they can.

In 2013 Pirates took a 3-1 lead to Mazembe's Lubumbashi fortress and needed that advantage as they conceded two debatable penalties and a red card for skipper Lucky Lekgwathi.

The late Pirates goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa was the hero in a game that really was the making of him as a player, keeping his side in the tie as they went down 1-0 in the battle - but won the war.

The DRC side have players from Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mali, Zambia and Tanzania, and former Pirates midfielder, Josephy Kamwendo, from Malawi. It is a team packed with internationals and players with vast experience in Africa , and about as stiff a challenge as Sundowns could have expected to get in the second round.

TP Mazembe have lost just once at home in a decade in the African Champions League, a run of 39 matches.

The teams met in the group stages of the Confederation Cup in 2007, when Sundowns won 3-2 at home but lost 3-1 away.

Kaizer Chiefs will play a different style of opponent in north Africans Raja Casablanca, but will also have to watch out for the advantages their opponents will try to gain when Amakhosi head to Morocco.

Tomorrow's clash in Durban is a first meeting between the two clubs, but Raja are no strangers to South African opposition, having got the better of Orlando Pirates, Manning Rangers and Ajax Cape Town in the past.

Both sides would term their current form "patchy", but while Chiefs still have a healthy lead in the South Africa championship, Raja sit a lowly fifth in their league.

They, too, are almost unbeatable at home, having also registered just one loss in the Champions League in the past 10 years.

Pirates face a less taxing challenge against the Uganda Revenue Authority, in essence a team put together by the country's taxman in 1997. It is not unusual for organs of state to have football clubs in Uganda. The police force have a side in the Premier League, as does the Kampala city council.

Fixtures

CAF Champs League

Tomorrow

Loftus: Sundowns vs TP Mazembe (5pm)

Moses Mabhida: Chiefs vs Raja Casablanca (7pm)

CAF Confed Cup

Tomorrow

Orlando: Pirates vs Uganda Revenue Authority (5pm)