Fifa/Caf assistant referee Felicien Kabanda has been handed tough Fifa and Caf fixtures which he hopes to use to boost his experience and status ahead of the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil.Kabanda, the only East African referee set to officiate at next year’s World Cup, alongside Guinea’s Bakary Gassama (centre referee) and Gambian Maudo Jallow will take charge of the second leg of the African Champions League final between hosts and holders Al Ahly of Egypt and South Africa’s Orlando Pirates.Kabanda told Times Sport on Sunday, “It is a good platform to improve my career and I am hoping, together with my team, to do a good job.”The game will be played in Cairo on November 10 with the eventual winners going on to represent Africa at the Club World Cup due to staged in Morocco in December. Orlando Pirates scored with almost the final kick of the game to earn a 1-1 draw in the first leg in South Africa over the weekend. Mohamed Aboutrika’s perfectly-placed free-kick from outside the area on 14 minutes looked like it had earned the North Africans the victory.However, Pirates’ Thabo Matlaba pounced with an equaliser in the third minute of injury time, a reward for the home side’s superior ball possession.Kabanda will again be on duty when Nigeria host Ethiopia in the second leg of the Fifa World Cup play-off match due in Calabar on November 16. Nigeria won 2-1 in the first leg in Addis Ababa on October 13.
