CAFCL: Ahly crush Coton Sport in Garoua to keep quarters hopes afloat
Mahmoud Kahraba scored a hattrick with Percy Tau adding another as record winners Al Ahly kept their hopes of advancing to the quarter finals of the Champions League alive, with a healthy 4-0 victory away to Cameroon’s Cotonsport in Garoua.
The victory took Ahly to seven points, third in Group B and their slim hopes will now be pegged on whether Sudan’s Al Hilal fail to pick victory at home against Mamelodi Sundowns on Saturday.
A win for Hilal will kill Ahly’s quarter final hopes while either a draw or defeat will keep them firmly in contention heading into the final round of group stage matches after the international break.
The Cameroonian side’s campaign has been horrid as they lost their fifth consecutive match, conceding their 14th goal in the process an average of at least two per game.
They found themselves trailing after just 23 minutes, when Kahraba scored the first of his three with a simple tap in from a Magdy Afsha low cross from the right.
Six minutes later, the Ahly number seven had his second of the evening, another simple finish from close range from a tau assist. The Egyptians had recycled play quick from a throw on the left with Mohamed Abdelkader sending Tau through with a defense splitting pass, before the latter slapped low for Kahraba to finish.
The visitors went to the break with a deserved two goal cushion.
In the second half, they needed just five minutes to make it three for them and three for Kahraba, the latter finishing off an assist from Tau with a one-time shot from just inside the area.
Tau then added a goal to his brace of assists in the 53rd minute to essentially close out the game with a brilliant goal, cutting to his favorite left foot to shoot home from the right.
The home side struggled to create any chances, and Ahly keeper Mohamed Elshenawy didn’t have much to do on the night.
Tunisian side Esperance has progressed to the quarter finals after picking a point in a 1-1 draw against Sudanese side AL Merreikh in Libya.
The point put Taraji to 10 points on top of Group D, putting up an unassailable lead of five points to third placed Merreikh, whose hopes now hang in the balance with one round left to play.
Paulo Sergio scored the equalizer for the Sudanese side at the stroke of 90 minutes from the penalty spot, with Esperance reduced to 10 men following Raed Bouchniba’s second yellow card from the foul that led to the penalty.
The opening half was conservative from both sides and chances were few and far in between.
Esperance opened the scoring with their first real chance in the 23rd minute, when Mohammed Ben Hamouda capitalized on a defensive mistake to pick the ball and plant beyond the keeper.
Esperance had chances to draw level before the break, with Matheuzinho twice coming close but both his attempts were blocked by keeper Moez Ben Cherifia in the 38th and 41st minutes.
Ben Cherifia also made a brilliant save to keep out Brayan Angulo’s well struck shot.
Merrikh came back in the second half under pressure to get back into the game with their hopes of qualification hanging in the balance.
They were finally rewarded at the stroke of 90 minutes when Sergio scored from the penalty spot.
Merrikh will travel to Cairo to play Zamalek in their last group match, but this might just be for statistic, if CR Belouizdad pick maximum points against the Egyptian White Knights in the late kick off on Saturday.
Two late second half goals saw hosts CR Belouizdad beat Egyptian giants Zamalek SC 2-0 to advance to the quarter finals and close out Group D.
The victory by the Algerian side in Algiers saw Belouizdad cement their hold on second place with nine points, four behind third placed Zamalek who were held to a 1-1 draw by also qualified Esperance in the early kick off in Libya.
For the second consecutive seasons, the White Knights have failed to progress to the quarter finals and they remained bottom of the group with four points. The final round of the group’s matches after the international break will be merely to decide the positions with the top two and bottom two taking on each other.
The Algerians travel away to Esperance while Zamalek will be in Cairo against Merrikh.
Zakaria Draoui and Leonel Wamba scored in the 75th and 79th minutes for the home side to cash in the win and assure themselves a place in the last eight.
Draoui broke the deadlock after 75 minutes with an expertly tucked away curling effort after running on to a cutback from Akram Bouras.
Four minutes later, Cameroonian forward Wamba scored the second, though unconventionally. A freekick from the left found his run at the backpost and the striker first connected with his chest before a trailing leg swept the ball beyond the keeper.
Before that, there were few chances in a tightly contested game. In the opening half, Mohamed Belkhir had a good chance when he rounded the keeper, but his decision to go at goal from a tight angle was awry, the ball curling wide.
Zamalek’s Seifeddine Jaziri also had a good chance 10 minutes to the break when he battled to win the ball between two defenders, but his shot one on one was saved by the keeper Alex Guendouz.
In the second half, it was Belouizdad who were hungrier and they were rewarded with the two goals deep into the final quarter of an hour.
