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CAF Champions League Final Preview: Al Ahly - Coton Sport (01.11.2008)
Like they were last year, Egyptian champions Al Ahly will again be the overwhelming favourites in their fourth consecutive CAF Champions League final on Sunday against Cameroon’s Coton Sport, who are making only their first appearance at this stage of the competition. Samm Audu looks at how the tie is shaping up...
Al Ahly are on course for a sixth African Champions triumph. And they could well have achieved this milestone last year but for an Etoile du Sahel side who, on the day proved, to be the hungrier of the two gladiators.
There was a time when Ahly were invincible inside the 60,000-capacity cauldron better known as the Cairo International Stadium. However, Etoile from the Tunisian coastal town of Sousse made nonsense of this track record when in Cairo they put three goals past the proud Egyptians, who had managed a 1-1 draw in Tunisia.
Understandably, Ahly’s Portuguese coach Manuel Jose said his team’s form has suffered at home because of the huge expectations from their fans and that they are now far more comfortable when they play far removed from such pressure.
Against Nigeria’s Enyimba in the semi-final, they were certainly more at ease in the first leg in Aba and almost laboured to win the return leg with an opportunistic goal by the Angola striker Flavio Amado.
There were those who doubted the capability of the CAF Team of the Century following the exit of several key stars including midfielder Mohamed Shawky and goalkeeper Essam El Hadary recently but they have stuck to the task professionally.
"My players are feeling the pressure because the Champions League final first-leg is approaching," Jose said after a rather sluggish 2-1 win over Ittihad in the league. "I tried to help them get rid of such a feeling but they were logically concerned with the African encounter.”
On Sunday, it would be interesting to see just how the Red Devils handle the big occasion.
Ahly have won the African Champions trophy five times – in 1982, 1987, 2001, 2005 and 2006. Victory over their Cameroonian rivals this year will not only earn them a cash prize of a million US dollars but also a chance to become the most successful club in this competition and outdo bitter local rivals Zamalek, who have also won the tournament five times.
Coton Sport, who from the Northern Cameroon town of Garoua, have already made history as the first club from that country to reach this stage of the competition since 1980 when the famous Canon Yaoundé won the last of their three titles.
They made easy work of Power Dynamos in the semi-finals by winning 5-0 on aggregate. After snatching a lone goal victory in Harare, they showed they were truly at home by spanking the Glamour Boys of Zimbabwe 4-0 in the second leg.
Coton Sport have dominated the Cameroonian scene since 1997.
They owe their rise to the top pile of African football within such a short time to solid funding and organisation.
Founded in 1986, they reached the final of the now redesigned CAF Cup in 2001 and have posted eight appearances in the Champions League with their best outing coming in 2004 when they got to the third round of the elimination series.
They have won the Cameroonian league nine times and were consecutive winners in the past five years. They
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havealso lifted the FA Cup four times in the last five years. Their latest Cup triumph was achieved last week.
Besides parading several Cameroonian players, they also have on their books players from Niger including first-choice goalkeeper Kassaly Daouda and 20-year-old striker Kamilou Daouda. Kamilou is the team’s leading scorer in the Champions League and both he and his compatriot are already top transfer targets with the goalkeeper reportedly on his way to Turkey.
Coton Sport Franco-Ivorian coach Alain Guedou is upbeat about his team’s chances.
“We have the keys to success. We will fight as much as we can to win the title, but I believe we are not far from achieving our objective,” he said.
After a rather slow start in the group phase of this year’s competition, they stepped up their challenge with their home ground, the 35,000-capacity Stade Omnisports Roumde-Adja, proving to be a fortress. It was there that Enyimba and Power Dynamos met their Waterloo.
Will Ahly also be put to sword there?
Besides the handsome cash reward, the winner of this final will also represent Africa at this year’s FIFA World Club Cup in December in Japan.
Etoile and Al Ahly have featured in this competition by virtue of their previous continental conquests with the Egyptians finishing a commendable third two years ago.
CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINALISTS FACT FILE
AL AHLY
Founded: April 24, 1907
Club Colours: Red and white
Nickname: Red Devils
Home Ground/Capacity: Cairo International Stadium/74,100
Players To Watch: Mohamed Aboutrika, Ahmed Hassan, Mohamed Barakat, Flavio Amado, Wael Gomaa, Shady Mohamed
HONOURS:
Champions League Titles - 1982, 87, 2001, 2005, 2006
African Cup Winners Cup - 1984, 85, 86 and 93
African Super Cups - 2002, 2005, 2007
3rd place in 2006 FIFA World Club Cup
Egyptian League Titles – 32 times
FA Cups – 35 times
QUALIFYING RECORD
2nd Round
VS Al Tahir (Eritrea) Walk over
3rd Round
Vs Platinum Stars (South Africa) 1-2 (away), 2-0 (home)
Group A
Vs Asec Mimosas (Ivory Coast) 0-0 (away), 2-2 (home)
Vs Zamalek (Egypt) 2-1 (home), 2-2 (away)
Vs Power Dynamos 2-1 (home), 1-0 (away)
Semi Final
Vs Enyimba (Nigeria) 0-0 (away), 1-0 (home)
COTON SPORT
Founded: 1986
Club Colours: Green and black
Home Ground/Capacity: Stade Omnisports Roumde-Adja/35,000
Players To Watch: Kassaly Daouda, Baba Ousmaila, Daouda Kamilou, Abdoul Moussa Konate, Makadji Boukar, Henri Minka
HONOURS:
Cameroonian League Titles – 9 times
FA Cups – 4 times
QUALIFYING RECORD
Prelim
Vs Vital’O (Burundi) 0-1 (away), 0-1 (home)
2nd Round
Vs Gombe United (Nigeria) 5-0 (home), 1-2 (away)
3rd Round
Vs JS Kabylie (Algeria) 3-0 (home), 1-2 (away)
Group B
Vs Enyimba (Nigeria) 0-2 (away), 3-0 (home)
Vs Al Hilal (Sudan) 1-1 (away), 1-0 (home)
Vs TP Mazembe (Congo DR) 1-0 (home), 0-2 (away)
Semi Final
Vs Power Dynamos (Zimbabwe) 0-1 (away), 4-0 (home)
Samm Audu
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