Al Ahly Hopes on Home Result

Egyptian giants Al Ahly and their Moroccan counterparts Al Wydad produced what proved to be a thrilling match that witnessed six goals following full ninety minutes. Ahly and Wydad tied 3-3 in Cairo’s Military Academy stadium as they met in the first round of the 2011 Orange CAF Champions League Group B.

It was an exciting game and the North African giants proved their quality. The game was played behind closed doors as Al Ahly suffered this sanction from CAF for one match.

It was barely one minute in the game when Wydad took the lead through an own goal from Ahly’s defender Sherif Abdel Fadil who failed to clear a cross. Cairo Reds immediately reacted, and in the 4th minute Senegalese Dominique Da Silva provided Emad Metaeb with a fine pass that the later placed home for the equalizer. Wydad then had a couple of chances cleared by Ahly defense.

And it was 23 minutes on the clock when Wydad’s Hicham El Amrany handed the ball inside the area to give the Gambian referee no chance but pointing to the spot. Ahly veteran defender Wael Gomaa scored from the penalty kick to give his team a half time 2-1 lead.

The second half was exciting as both teams tried to reach the goal, and after Ahly’s Metaeb wasted a one-on-one chance with Wydad’s goalkeeper Nadir Lmyaghri, he was punished when Mohssine Iajour came to receive a cross inside Ahly’s area and fired home to set the scores at 2-2 when the clock showed 61 minutes of play.

Ahly immediately introduced their new signing striker El Sayed Hamdy looking for a 3rd goal, and that came within 15 minutes of play when skipper Housam Ghaly made a pass to Dominique who moved pass the goalkeeper and scored Ahly’s 3rd. But just before the final minute, Ahly’s AbdelFadil made another blunder and let the ball to Iajour who scored his second goal to end the game in a 3-3 draw.

Ahly’s manager Manuel Jose said that his team missed badly the presence of their fans. The Portuguese said “We played well and I’m proud of my boys, but that’s football. Someday you’re lucky and on others luck abandons you. Today we were totally unlucky, especially at the first and last minute.

Now we have to go and search for a good result in Tunisia, but my players should have some rest first. They’re extremely fatigued after a very long and tiring domestic season”.