adminJOHANNESBURG.-Al Ahly have failed in their attempts to have Sunday’s Caf Champions League soccer final played at the Cairo International Stadium, the club confirmed late on Monday. “All our attempts to change the match venue failed, so we had to inform Caf that Arab Contractors will host the match,” Ahly’s general manager Hassan Massoud told an Egyptian website.
The Egyptian giants could not convince the country’s strict military authorities to have the match moved to the 70 000-seater stadium and would now have to play the crucial second-leg tie at the Arab Contractors Stadium, 12 kilometres from the international arena.
With a crowd capacity of 30 000, it would drastically reduce the effect of fanatical Ahly supporters on the game, but Pirates would now have to battle poorer pitch conditions in their bid for a second African title.
Ahly succeeded last week in getting the fixture moved to Cairo, after the seven-time African champions had been banished to the El-Gouna Stadium in recent months.
Egyptian military authorities did not want any fixtures to be played in the capital city since a coup overthrew president Mohamed Mursi in July, after only one year in office. They feared large gatherings could spark further civil unrest.
Pirates and Ahly met in the group stages of this year’s tournament where the Sea Robbers claimed a convincing 3-0 victory at El-Gouna, leaving Ahly eager to have Sunday’s match moved back to the intimidating atmosphere of Cairo.
Meanwhile, Orlando Pirates coach Roger de Sa has faith his team can cope without Happy Jele and Andile Jali in the Champions League final second leg against holders Al Ahly on Sunday. Stand-in captain Jele and influential midfielder Jali are suspended for the game at the Arab Contractors Stadium in Cairo after receiving costly bookings in the first leg, a 1-1 draw at Orlando Stadium this past weekend.
De Sa, however, points out that Bucs have overcome similar obstacles on their road to the showpiece decider.“In the end it will be 11 Pirates players versus 11 Al Ahly players,” De Sa told his club’s official website.“Obviously I would have preferred to have Jali and Jele for this away trip but if you look at our path to the Final, we have played matches minus a couple of our key players and we were still able to get the results.
“Jali for instance was out for a couple of matches in this tournament but we did well in his absence. We have a great squad of players, with a number of capable replacements who I believe can do the job for us over the weekend.”
The former Bidvest Wits trainer added: “I think we should not cry over their suspensions because we have other guys who are equally as hungry and determined to come in and do well for the team. The spirit in the camp is very good; the attitude in the group is great and that is what I need in the team.” – Supersport.com
Online Reporter