JOHANNESBURG: Unimaginative Al Ahly of Egypt had to rely on an own goal at the weekend to stay in contention for a record third consecutive African Champions League title.
Al Ahly edged Al-Ittihad of Libya 1-0 in Cairo after a goalless first leg to set up a rematch of the 2005 final against Etoile Sahel of Tunisia, which they won 3-0 on aggregate.
Etoile were more impressive than Al Ahly as they beat Al Hilal of Sudan 3-1 in Sousse after trailing by one goal from the first leg of the other semi-final in the $3.5 million dollar competition.
Al Ahly handed Ittihad a five-goal drubbing when they last clashed in Cairo 17 years ago and after early pressure led to Hesham Shaban conceding an own goal, another comfortable victory seemed likely.
Angolan midfielder Felisberto Gilberto Amaral was the architect of the 20th-minute goal, beating two Libyans before delivering a cross that Shaban headed backward over goalkeeper-cum-captain Samir Aboud.
It was a blow Shaban did not deserve as he, Osama Hamadi and Younes Al-Shibani were outstanding at the heart of the Ittihad defence against much-vaunted Al Ahly strikers Flavio Amado and Emad Moteab.
Although the Red Devils of Cairo dominated possession before a 70,000 crowd at Cairo Stadium, the five-time African champions created few clearcut scoring chances.
The best fell to Amado 11 minutes into the second half when a cross eluded a host of players only for the Angola World Cup star to fire wide when scoring seemed simpler.
Even the loss of injured Aboud and the late sending off of substitute Pierre Coulibaly did not ruffle Ittihad, the first Libyan club to reach the penultimate phase of the Champions League.
During his brief time on the pitch Coulibaly came close to snatching a shock equalizer as a deflected close-range shot eluded veteran Al Ahly goalkeeper Essam Al-Hadary only to trickle just wide.
Deep into five minutes of stoppage time Ittihad were awarded a free kick but the Ghanaian referee, who made several strange decisions, spotted a foul no one else did and the final whistle blew as Al Ahly cleared.
The end came as a massive relief for increasingly agitated Al Ahly coach Manuel Jose from Portugal, who knew an Ittihad equalizer would have taken the visitors into the final on the away-goal rule.
Ittihad can take pride from a 14-match run under Serb coach Branko Smiljanic that included victories against former African champions JS Kabylie of Algeria and FAR Rabat of Morocco.
The strength of Al Ahly remains their home form with a 12-0 goal tally en route to the final via victories over Highlanders of Zimbabwe, Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa, Hilal, Esperance of Tunisia, ASEC of Ivory Coast and Ittihad.
Amine Chermiti was the Etoile hero, scoring in each half as the Tunisian club clinched a fifth consecutive final appearance in an African Football Confederation competition.
They won the 2003 African Cup Winners Cup and 2006 African Confederation Cup and finished runners-up to Enyimba of Nigeria (2004) and Al Ahly (2005) in African Champions League deciders.
Unmarked Chermiti opened the scoring after 16 minutes with a header and the aerial weakness of Hilal was exposed again soon after half-time when Saber Ben Frej struck off a corner.
Nigeria-born Ezeh Ndubuisi levelled on aggregate with a 55th-minute volley only for Chermiti to elude his marker again and head the decisive goal 18 minutes into the second half.
The first leg of the final will be staged in Sousse between Oct. 26-28 with the return match in Cairo two weeks later and the winners qualify for the end-of-year Fifa Club World Cup in Japan.
