Egypt's Ahli arrived in Cameroon exhausted from a long journey by plane but left flying high after beating Coton Sport 1-0, making their job much easier in the second leg and of ultimately reaching the final of the Confederation Cup. Midfielder Walid Suleiman scored the only goal on 72 minutes with a superb long-range volley which will buoy the team's chances in the second leg in Cairo set for next weekend. After the match, Mahmoud Taher, Ahli's newly elected president, phoned the team and congratulated them for their performance and asked them to exert their utmost to reach the final round and add a new title to the club's list of honours. “We have passed a crucial stage safely but the players need to concentrate more on what's coming to be able to repeat their winning streak,” Taher said. Saad Amir, Ahli's defender, said that the return leg is very important for the Red Devils as the winner will reach the final. “It is either to be or not to be. I think with more concentration we will do it and be the first team to collect the title of two different competitions,” Amir said. Ahli beat Coton Sport at the same stage of the prestigious CAF Champions League last year. They also beat the Cameroonians in the 2008 Champions League final. Ahli are also looking to make history by being the first Egyptian club to lay hands on the Confederation Cup, Africa's second-tier continental club championship crown. The other semi-final is more delicately balanced after Ivorians Sewe Sport edged Congolese visitors AC Leopards 1-0 in Abidjan. Christian Kouame scored the match-winner 11 minutes after half-time at Stade Robert Champroux in the commercial capital. The sides clash again on Saturday in the Congolese city of Dolisie and the overall winners will enjoy home advantage first in the two-leg decider. Meanwhile, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced that the host nations for the Africa Cup of Nations have been decided as follows: Cameroon 2019, Cote d'Ivoire 2021 and Guinea 2023. The decision was reached at the Executive Committee meeting in Addis Ababa and announced at the AU headquarters in the Ethiopian capital. CAF said it will announce who will win the right to host the 2017 Cup at the end of September. It is down to either Egypt or Algeria, in place of Libya which was deprived of hosting the event by CAF due to security reasons.
