Ahli are a heartbeat away from appearing in the African Champions League's final after defeating old nemesis Zamalek. Inas Mazhar reports In front of more than 25,000 spectators Ahli confirmed their supremacy of Egyptian football by beating arch-rivals Zamalek 2-1 in the first leg and are just one step away from reaching the African Champions League final. The victory, in Cairo's Military Academy Stadium on Sunday night, in this all-Egyptian semi-final affair also extended Ahli's successive unbeaten record to 45 matches. It took Ahli 37 minutes to open the scoring when Emad Miteb dummied inside the box and netted into the far corner of the net out of the reach of a sprawling substitute goalkeeper for Zamalek Mohamed Abdel-Monsef. The goal put Miteb second in the top scorers of the championship with six goals, two less than Eniymba's Joetex Frimpong. Frimpong can no longer add to his tally after Eniymba, the two-time defending champion, dropped out of the qualifying stage. With only one minute to go before half-time, Mohamed Barakat gave his team a 2-0 lead after scoring into a virtually empty net. Barakat had picked up a rebound from Mohamed Abu Treika's shot which hit the post. Zamalek was a different side in the second half after substitute Hazem Emam replaced defender Ibrahim Said. Emam delighted his fans with his well-known ball control and netted his team's lone goal with 15 minutes left in the game. Ahli's Hassan Mustafa failed to add an insurance goal when he struck the ball over the bar. The second opportunity for Ahli to wrap up the game came with a minute to go when Angolan Flavio Amado missed a penalty in which he was fouled. His shot went straight into the arms of Abdel-Monsef. The win and two-goal away score gives Ahli a vital boost for the return match scheduled to take place on 16 October also in Cairo. A win or a draw would suffice for Ahli. Zamalek must win by a two-goal margin at least or beat Ahli by the same 2-1 score, then go to penalties. The result was not surprising, for Ahli have no lost for 18 months while Zamalek went into the match reeling from a stunning 5-0 loss to the Coastal Guards of Alexandria in the league. Still, observers expected to see a change in the team. The team was highly motivated before the match. The club's officials had said management would temporarily forget the Coastal Guards debacle and promised LE2 million as prize money if Ahli were beaten. Club President Mortada Mansour pledged to pay LE1 million; the other million would come from the president of the Saudi football club Ittihad Jeddah. But Ahli remained Ahli, as strong and disciplined as ever, dominating almost from the start and allowing Zamalek little breathing space. Though separated in the 25,000-seat stadium, the supporters of the Ahli--Zamalek match were involved in some instances of hooliganism in the stands. Being Zamalek's home match it was the club which printed and distributed the game's tickets. Rumours on the eve of the match said Zamalek had allocated only 4,000 tickets for Ahli fans. Surprisingly, Ahli supporters still occupied almost three-quarters of the stands. Not more than 7,000 Zamalek supporters attended. The match also saw the host club getting failing marks in organisation and security. The media tribune, for example, was filled not by journalists but by the two teams' fans who somehow obtained the media tribune invitations from the club's officials. The result was that media people had no place to sit and were forced to quarrel with security to allow them in. Security officials replied that their job was to allow ticket and invitation holders in, guard the gates and prevent riots, not to check the identity of invitation holders. While media personnel continued to argue and negotiate with security officials, the fans who occupied the media tribune were able to wander into the players' dressing rooms, the press conference room and media mixed zone. There they rushed in as soon as the referee blew the final whistle. Fans fought with coaches and players. Manuel Jose, Ahli's head coach, had been making his way to the press conference room when he was assaulted. The press conference was so in name only. It quickly became a public conference after fans who had access to the media zone, entered the press conference, shouting, yelling and insulting the coaches. The real media representatives were unable to do their jobs as security failed to get those who were not supposed to be there out. The two head coaches walked out in protest and so did the media. National team head coach Hassan Shehata and his crew were prevented from entering the stadium. After more than an hour, they failed to persuade security to let them in. These are ominous signs in the run-up to the African Nations Cup which Egypt will host in January. The Military Stadium is the venue for Group 2 matches in Cairo. The problem might not be the venues as much as fan behaviour and security. Foreign media and officials cannot be asked to show up in the stadium four hours in advance of matches because of security. If these matters are not dealt with before the ANC, the tournament's organisation will definitely be affected. Whatever venues, hotels, transportation and facilities the country enjoys could all be overshadowed if these pressing issues are not dealt with immediately. The day before, on Saturday, Tunisia's Etoile de Sahel defeated Moroccan side Raja Casablanca 1-0 in the first leg of the other semi- final in Casablanca. Nigerian striker Emeka Opara scored for the Tunisian side in the 59th minute. Sahel are now well-placed to reach their second successive Champions League final. The defeat was Raja's first at home in this year's Champions League. Etoile played much of the game in defensive mode as Raja struggled in their search for an equaliser at the Mohamed V Stadium. Etoile host the second leg in Sousse in three weeks with their hopes resting on their lone goal advantage.
