When the whistle blew at the Stade de Kégué and the scoreboard still showed 0-0, it marked more than just the end of a goalless contest between Dadjè FC and Al Ahli Tripoli. The opening leg of the CAF Champions League’s first preliminary round provided ninety minutes of evidence that African club football’s deepest flaw is no longer one of quality—but of teams locked in mutual timidity, failing to rise above a now-stultifying parity. In a competition that once promised a showcase of audacity and flair, this curtain-raiser left fans with a very different sort of drama: a stalemate that says as much about the continental game’s present as it does about its future.