Al Ahly defend Africa crown

TWO second half goals from Aboutrika and Abdelzaher helped Al Ahly defend their Caf Champions League title at the expense of Pirates last night. Orlando Pirates looked to shock Al Ahly with an early goal in front of their own fans when Daine Klate hit the target from the free-kick inside the opening 10 minutes after a foul on Sifiso Myeni.

Klate should have done better in the 20th minute after Tlou Segolela played a pass behind the Al Ahly defence, but the former SuperSport United winger was denied by Ekramy.

Sayed Ahmed fired from range a few seconds later, but Meyiwa did fantastically well to parry his shot over the bar for Al Ahly’s corner.
Segolela failed to guide his header on to the target in the 35th minute, following Klate’s delightful cross into the Al Ahly’s penalty area. At this stage, Pirates looked better than their opponents.

However, both Al Ahly and Pirates could not break the deadlock in the first 45 minutes.
Al Ahly played with more intent early in the second half, and took the lead in the 54th minute through Mohamed Aboutrika who took advantage of Said Bekhit’s deflected shot to beat Meyiwa with a low shot from inside the box.

Lennox Bacela wasted a glorious chance to bring Pirates back into the game in the 63rd minute, as his shot went across the face of Ekramy’s goal having done well to beat the Al Ahly keeper.

Abdelzaher Darwish won it for Al Ahly in the 77th minute after Said Bekhit’s attempted shot fell on his path, and the Al Ahly man stretched his leg to send the crowd wild.

Pirates never had any clear-cut chances in the last 10 minutes, and it was actually Al Ahly who should have made it 3-0 in the 90th minute, but Meyiwa made a fine stop, as the Egyptian giants successfully defended their Caf Champions League title.

Meanwhile, hundreds of supporters of the Egyptian club have clashed with police outside a Cairo stadium ahead of the African Champions League final.

Police used tear gas to disperse the crowd as they threw rocks and tried to push their way into the stadium, many with no tickets. The scene raised fears of problems at the World Cup playoff between Egypt and Ghana in Cairo in just over a week’s time.

A police car was damaged in the clashes before Al Ahly were due to host South Africa’s Orlando Pirates in the second leg of the club championship decider.-Supersport.