Orange CAF Confederation Cup: Al Ahly Reach Historic Final
Cairo, Egypt – Al-Ahly became the first Egyptian side to reach the final of the Orange CAF Confederation Cup after beating Coton Sport of Cameroon 2-1 on Sunday in Cairo.
The host came from behind scoring through Moussa Yedan and Amr Gamal after Joseph Kombous had given the visitors an early lead.
The Red Devils booked their place in the final of the secondary club competition 3-1 on aggregate after managing a lone goal victory in the first leg in Garoua last week.
Ahly are thus on course to become the first club to win back-to-back African club titles following their success in the prestigious CAF Champions League last year.
Coton Sport had the better of the exchanges in the opening minutes as Ahly laboured in search of their rhythm.
On 14 minutes, the visitors broke the deadlock through Kombous who profited from a misunderstanding between Ahly goalie Sheriof Ekramy and defender Saad Samir, before slotting into the yawning net.
Ahly lifted up their game but still found the equalizer a tall mountain as they failed to string their passes together.
Their best chance came on the half-hour mark and it was talismanic midfielder Walid Soliman, who fired a long range shot that missed narrowly.
Four minutes before recess, Yedan, who joined the Egyptians from the Cameroonian side early January equalized by finishing off a solo move. The Burkinabe-import trapped nicely from Ahmed Khairy’s long pass, beat his marker and rounded goalkeeper Loic Fedjou before firing into the net to draw level.
Ahly resumed stronger and were unlucky to go up after Soliman’s shot from a free-kick bounced off the post, to the relief of the visitors.
The Egyptians went up on 78 minutes through Gamal, who tucked in after Fedjou had spilled Soliman’s free-kick unto his path.
The Egyptians held on to victory that makes the first Egyptian side to reach the final of the competition since its inception in 2004.
Ahly will face Ivorian side Sewe Sport in the final to be played over two legs in November.
At stake is a monetary prize of $660,000 for the winner and the right to face the winner of the CAF Champions League for the CAF Super Cup next year.
Source: CAFonline.com
