CAIRO: Mighty Al Ahly of Egypt overcame a recent slump to beat Asec of Ivory Coast 2-0 Sunday and reach the African Champions League semi-finals.
The deadlock in a tense winner-takes-all tussle at Cairo Stadium was broken after 76 minutes when Angola World Cup striker Flavio Amado pushed the ball over the line after a defensive blunder.
And the darling of Egypt, injury plagued midfielder Mohamed Abou Treika, came on late in the match and sealed victory with a soft goal one minute into stoppage time.
The result before a near-capacity 75,000 crowd lifted five-time African champions Al Ahly to 12 points and they will top Group B unless fellow qualifiers Al Hilal of Sudan beat Esperance in Tunisia.
Al Ahly and Hilal will be joined in the penultimate phase of the $3.5 million competition by Group A winners Etoile Sahel of Tunisia and surprise runners-up Al Ittihad of Libya.
Seeking a record third consecutive title, Al Ahly entered their final pool fixture reeling from losses at Esperance and Al Hilal and minus midfield enforcer Mohamed Shawky, who joined English club Middlesbrough this week.
Chances were as scarce as empty seats in the vast stadium as ASEC, needing a win to pip Ahly, recovered from a nervous start to match their more illustrious opponents.
ASEC goalkeeper Mohamed Kabore did well to block a Mohamed Barakat shot and Angolan Felisberto Gilberto Amaral went close from a free kick while Essam Al Hadary reacted quickly to push away a Yao Kouassi drive at the other end.
The Ivorians started the second half impressively only to be let down by weak finishing and it came as no surprise when Gilberto crossed and a Khaled Adenon error set up Amado to poke the ball over the line.
Otherwise faultless Kabore gifted Al Ahly their second goal with a sloppy clearance that was intercepted by Abou Treika, who ran through and stroked the ball into the corner of the net.
