Ahli are close to reaching the final of the African Champions League for the third year in a row. Inas Mazhar reports Ahli need a victory against Ittihad of Libya in the return leg in Cairo to qualify for their third successive final in the African Champions League and win the trophy for an unprecedented three consecutive times. Sudan's Hilal also raised their hopes of jumping to the final stage after a 2-1 home win against Tunisians Etoile Du Sahel in Omdurman. The Libyans were skillful enough to trouble Ahli, something which Ahli did not find surprising. "It isn't going to be an easy match," said Ahli's goalkeeping coach Ahmed Nagui before the game. "Ittihad have shown they are a strong team in the group stages by topping its group." As he was getting into the bus heading for Cairo Airport, Ahli Portuguese head coach Manuel Jose told Al-Ahram Weekly he expected it to be a tough match. "It is the semi final of the Champions League so it should be tough. He said his team had not had enough time to prepare for the first-leg match because of Ramadan and the national league match against Zamalek. "There wasn't enough time between these two matches to train and prepare for Ittihad," Jose said. In fact, though, the reigning African champions displayed one of their best performances since their 3-0 defeat in the group stages to Sudan's Hilal, outclassing their opponents in the second half as they launched a series of attacks. Ittihad's best chance came after six minutes when midfielder Walid Mhadeb beat Ahli goalie Essam El-Hadari to a through ball, only for Ahmed El-Sayed to scoop the ball of the line. The defending champions also had their fair share of the highly balanced game but Angolan import Flavio wasted the brightest in the 79th minute after Ittihad goalie Samir Aboud had come off his line, but his first timer deflected off a defender. In the other semi-final on Friday in Omdurman, Hilal beat Etoile 2-1 but not before Tunisian midfielder Radhoune Felhi stunned the Omdurman crowd with a 37th minute header at the Al Hilal Stadium. Hilal, making their maiden appearance at this stage of the competition since its inception 11 years ago, fought back and leveled up in the 62nd minute through Nigerian import Eze, who connected home from a goal-mouth melee. Former Dolphins striker Osunwa grabbed the winner four minutes later by heading home compatriot Yusuf Mohamed's cross from the right. A draw in the second leg will be enough to see the Sudanese through though a 1-0 win would suffice under the away goals rule for Etoile, unbeaten in 28 Champions League home games. The Tunisians, runners-up in 2004 and 2005, are bidding to become the third Tunisian winners of the competition after Club Africain (1991) and Esperance (1994) while Hilal are trying to improve on finishing runners-up twice (1987 and 1992) but they will be suspect travellers with just seven victories from 49 outings. The second leg matches of the $1 million Champions League competition are scheduled for the weekend of 5-7 October. In the Confederations Cup, Tunisia's CS Sfaxien and Sudan's Merrikh moved within touching distance of a place in the finals following victories in their penultimate group matches over the weekend. Sfaxien, losing finalists in last year's MTN-CAF Champions League, thrashed Cameroon 's Astres Douala 3-0 to maintain their 100 per cent home record in their Group A clash, while Merrikh squeezed a lone goal victory over Egyptian giants Ismaili to remain at the apex of Group B. The result effectively ruled out the chances of Sundowns and Ismaili of qualifying to the finals of the $300,000 prize money competition. DR Congo's TP Mazembe kept the chase on Sfaxien with a 3-1 win over South African champions Mamelodi Sundowns while Kwara United and Dolphins settled for a 0-0 draw in Group B's all Nigerian-affair. At the Taieb Mhiri Stadium, DR Congo striker Mbele Lelo opened the scoring for the "Arabian Juventus" two minutes before recess before second half strikes from Blaise Koissy (55th) and Hamza Younes (89th minute) ensured them the maximum points. Elsewhere in Lubumbashie, goals from Mputu Mabi, Patou Kabangu and Alain Kaluyitukadioko was enough to give TP Mazembe their third victory in the competition, and a similar number for Sundowns with regard to defeats. Sfaxien lead the Group A pack on 10 points, one more than Mazembe, with Sundowns and Astres Douala on six and four points respectively in that order. The Tunisians must avoid defeat in their last game at Sundowns and Mazembe must beat Astres in Douala to snatch the group's sole ticket. At the Al-Merrikh Stadium in Omdurman on Sunday, a 43rd minute penalty against Ismaili converted by Faisal Agab gave Merrikh their third victory to remain in pole position for the group's single slot. The result ended the journey of the "Egyptian Samba Boys" who had struggled to find their feet in the competition. Merrikh have 10 points and are closely followed by Dolphins on seven; with Ismaili and Kwara in that order on five points apiece. Dolphins, losing finalist in the 2004 edition, must beat Merrikh by a wider margin to topple them at the pinnacle of the group on the last day matches, slated for the weekend of 5-7 October. The winners of the two groups qualify for the finals.
