Coach gets off without a reprimand
CAIRO: By day’s end on Sunday, Al-Ahli will be crowned the defending champions of the African Champions League or referred to in less pristine terms.
Ahli plays ASEC of Ivory Coast in Abidjan, nursing a delicate 2-0 lead from the first-leg of the semi-final. ASEC don’t usually lose at home but they are Al-Ahli’s historical gateway to ultimate conquest.
The two teams met four times before the Cairo encounter. In 1984, in the African Cup Winners’ Cup, ASEC won 2-1 at home and lost 3-1 in Cairo. In 2001, ASEC won at home 1-0; Ahli turned the tables at home 2-1.
On both occasions Ahli went on to win the whole show.
By extrapolating the historical odds, Ahli will probably lose tomorrow but not by enough to prevent the Egyptian club from reaching the finals where they will likely face off against Club Sportif Sfaxien of Tunisia. Sfaxien play the Orlando Pirates of South Africa today in Sfaxien in the other semi-final match. Following a 0-0 draw in Johannesburg a fortnight earlier, Sfaxien are odds-on favorites to reach the finals for the first time.
Meanwhile, all eyes are on Ahli’s Portuguese coach Manual Jose, caught by TV cameras gesticulating thrice to the referee with not just his finger, but his full-length forearm. In perhaps an extraordinary show of solidarity, the Egyptian TV announcer covering the game reached the grand conclusion that the referee deserved it.
An Ahli assistant coach later suggested to the press that Jose’s X-rated act was acceptable behavior in Europe. Actually, it isn’t, at least not from managers of top-flight football clubs. Besides, we’re not in Europe. Jose’s folly was totally unacceptable anywhere and how in the world it was condoned by two football men . just astounding.
Jose got away scot-free, not even reprimanded by his club or the African federation. The announcer is currently being questioned by the Egyptian Football Federation where – get this – he works as its public relations director.
Back to the challenge at hand, though – ASEC is just one more test for Ahli whose many players felt the heat after last week’s toothless 0-0 draw by Egypt in Botswana in the qualifications for the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations (ACN).
It’s a wonder how current ACN kings Egypt, jaunting Tottenham’s trimmed-down Mido, could not dispose of a team that ranks 27 in Africa and 104 in the world.
After all, Egypt is ranked sixth continentally and 27th globally.
Perhaps it was Ramadan. In Botswana’s capital Gaborone, game time began at 3:30 p.m., which meant the Egyptians were still fasting when the match concluded. In Abidjan, Ahli beware; the game will be staged at roughly the same time.
Still, we need not press the panic button. With four games left, Egypt is one point ahead of the rest of the group (Burundi, Mauritania and Botswana). Indeed, had we selected who we wanted to play against, they could not have been easier prey.
But certainly, the Egyptians in Botswana showed nothing of the form that netted seven goals against Lebanon in a friendly match in Cairo a few days earlier. The proceeds went to the reconstruction of Lebanon following Israel’s 33-day summer assault on the country.
