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Must-win match for Ahly as they bid to lift Egyptian gloom
JOHANNESBURG, July 16, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Al Ahly hope to lift some of the
gloom hanging over Egyptian football by beating Botswana visitors Township
Rollers on Tuesday in a must-win CAF Champions League game for the hosts.
Egypt were booed when they returned from the World Cup, having lost all
three group games to Uruguay, hosts Russia and Saudi Arabia in their first
appearance since 1990.
Record eight-time African champions Ahly supplied seven of the national
squad, including two goalkeepers, Mohamed el Shenawy and Sherif Ekramy.
AFP Sport takes a group-by-group look at what may lie in store during
matchday three of the elite African club competition.
Group A
Before a ball was kicked, Ahly and twice champions Esperance of Tunisia
were hot favourites to qualify at the expense of Rollers and Kampala Capital
City Authority of Uganda.
But the Cairo club, who have won a record 19 CAF titles, find themselves
bottom of the table with only one point after two rounds, and they dare not
slip up at home to Rollers.
Leaders Esperance will look to Tunisia World Cup striker Anice Badri for
goals in a home fixture against KCCA that they should win.
Group B
Five-time champions TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo boast
the only 100 percent group record among the 16 hopefuls for a $2.5 million
(2.1 mn euros) first prize.
The Ben Malango-inspired outfit began by whipping Entente Setif 4-1 and
another Algerian club, Mouloudia Alger, will be in Lubumbashi desperately
wanting to avoid a similar fate.
Pointless Setif, who have been African champions twice, host Difaa el
Jadida of Morocco in what looks to be their best chance of securing maximum
points.
Group C
Arguably the toughest group with the last two champions, Wydad Casablanca
of Morocco and Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa, and Horoya of Guinea
fighting for two last-eight places.
Horoya and Wydad have four points each ahead of a top-of-the-table clash in
Conakry and a win for the Guineans would give them a real chance of making
the quarter-finals.
Sundowns will miss transferred Khama Billiat and probably want-away Percy
Tau for a match at bottom club Port of Togo and need a victory after two
draws.
Group D
eSwatini (formerly Swaziland) clubs were considered cannon fodder in the
CAF circuit until Mbabane Swallows made the second-tier Confederation Cup
group phase last year.
Now the club who bank on Felix Badenhorst for goals are doing equally well
in the senior club competition, sharing the lead with Etoile du Sahel of
Tunisia, who they host.
Zesco United of Zambia and Primeiro Agosto of Angola are three points
adrift so both need maximum points in Ndola to ensure they do not fall too
far off the pace.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1220 hrs