Ahli of Egypt and Sfaxien of Tunisia meet on Saturday in the second-leg of the African Champions League with ambitious goals. Inas Mazhar reports from Tunis A victory for the defending champions Ahli means winning the most prestigious African club football tournament a record fifth time, tying them with archrival Zamalek. They will also pocket $1 million in prize money and will qualify for the World Clubs Championships in Japan when the event kicks off later this month in Tokyo. For Sfaxien, the goals are similar but a win could be even more tempting for the North African team. They are making their first appearance in the final of the African championship. As such, a triumph in Africa will be unprecedented. Beating the club of the century Ahli would double the joy. The prize money will definitely help and going to Japan will make them the second Tunisian team after Esperance to play in the World Clubs Championship. Despite the 1-1 first-leg draw in Cairo, each team believes it has the chance to win the whole show, though the home team believes home advantage and the away goal gives them a greater opportunity. Tickets are being sold in the city of Sfax, the hometown of the Tunisian side, almost 300kms to south of the country. More than 46,000 tickets went on sale; a VIP ticket is worth 4,000 Tunisia dinars ($3,000). Gate receipts from the final match will be distributed as follows: 70 per cent to the host club, 15 per cent to CAF and 15 per cent to the Tunisian federation. Gate money from the first-leg in Cairo reached almost LE1 million, the second highest in Ahli's history. The club's highest revenue, over LE1 million, was generated when Ahli hosted Real Madrid in Cairo in 2001. Ahli won 1-0. The second-leg match is expected to attract a high spectator turn-out, led by high-ranking officials including CAF President Eissa Hayatou. Other more illustrious Tunisian clubs, Esperance, Club Africaine, Sousse, have taken a back seat to Sfaxien but will be sending groups of fans for support. Similar to Cairo stadium two weeks ago, when flags and banners of Zamalek, Ismaili, Ittihad and other Egyptian clubs were waved by Ahli supporters, so too Rades Stadium will display several flags representing Tunisian clubs. To prevent injury and to give the players more rest, the Egyptian Football Association agreed to postpone Ahli's domestic league match against Enppi, which was scheduled for Monday. The Tunisian federation, on the other hand, turned down a Sfaxien appeal to postpone their league match against Hammam Sousse. The game ended in a scoreless draw. And while the home team has camped in the capital Tunis and has continued training on a daily basis, Ahli are staying in the city of Hammammat, almost 100kms south of the capital and 7kms away from the stadium of Rades, the venue of the final. Ahli officials surprised the media and fans alike when they barred all from attending the team's training sessions up until travelling to Tunis. Head coach Manuel Jose said the players needed to focus on the training and that fans sometimes distracted them by shouting at some players and putting more pressure on them. Both teams know each other well, having met twice in the competition's group stage. Sfaxien became the first club to beat Ahli on African soil in two years when they won 1-0 in Sfax. Ahli won 2-1 at Cairo Stadium in the return leg. Sfaxien finished on top of the group and were therefore allowed to host the final and decisive game at home, something Ahli might live to regret. The past two weeks following the first leg match in Cairo witnessed a tug of war between the Egyptian and Tunisian media. Headlines in the newspapers in each country are being highly partial, backing the respective clubs. Though the Egyptian media criticised Ahli after the first-leg result for not taking a comfortable lead, the tone has changed since. The media is now supporting the defending African champions at full strength. A press campaign urging Egyptians to fly to Tunisia has apparently worked; thousands of Egyptian fans have started arriving in the capital Tunis and will continue coming in until the day of the match. Some of them accompanied the team on the same plane on Wednesday. Egyptian and Tunisian flights to Tunisia are fully booked. Almost 5,000 Tunisian fans came to Cairo in the first-leg match. The Tunisian media is naturally backing the team. Support has spread throughout the country as if it was the national team of Tunisia playing. The atmosphere is reminiscent of the 2004 African Nations Cup which Tunisia hosted and won. The media is desperately seeking the cup. Many people in Tunis are confident the cup is theirs but this is putting extra pressure on the players. Sfaxien have been readying for festivals following what they believe will be a championship victory. Such talk and steps in Tunisia have angered Ahli's Jose, from Portugal, who believes Ahli's African past is being ignored. His only comment was "we'll leave it to the match, and we'll see who deserves to celebrate in the end." It's only two days before kick-off so may the best team win the most coveted and most expensive club trophy on the African continent.
