Egypt's teams advanced in Africa's two biggest football club championships. Abeer Anwar reviews how they did it Playing at home, Ahli drew 2-2 with USMA of Algeria but qualified all the same for the quarter-final round of the Champions League after winning 3-2 on aggregate. Ahli had edged USMA 1-0 in their first leg match in Algeria. Ahli appeared overconfident following their first- leg result. The result was that USMA scored first through Achiou Hussein in the 42nd minute on a breakaway. Ahli's Abu Treika equalised in extra time following a goalmouth scramble. In the 63rd minute, Emad Meteib, the Egyptian league's top scorer, put Ahli ahead with a well- timed header. But the Algerians made it interesting after Hamdoud Mohamed scored a penalty in the 94th minute. "We qualified but that performance will be insufficient in the coming rounds," Ahli's Portuguese coach Manuel Jose said. "The players have to concentrate more and do their best." Indeed, Jose was so upset by his club's performance that he stripped goalkeeper Essam El- Hadari of the captaincy after El-Hadari's miscue of a shot from mid-field led indirectly to the penalty. "We played very well and we deserved to qualify but Ahli were luckier," Gamal Manad, the USMA coach said. All is not lost for USMA who will now play either AS Marsa of Tunisia or Stella Abidjan of the Ivory Coast to see who goes through to the group stages of the Confederation Cup. As for Ahli, they now enter the group phase -- yet to be decided -- of the Champions League. In the same championship, Zamalek beat AS Aviacao 2-0 of Angola in their second leg match in Cairo to also qualify for the quarter-finals. Zamalek thus won 3-1 on aggregate after drawing drew 1-1 with Aviacao in the first leg. After exiting from the Egyptian Cup and Arab Champions League and finishing a likely fifth place in the league, Zamalek know full well that Africa is their last chance. And they made the most of it. Zamalek's first goal came from a penalty kick by Wa'el El-Qabbani in the 23rd minute. Abdel-Halim Ali added an insurance goal in the 60th minute, thanks mainly to a pass from Hazem Imam, the star midfielder out for months because of injury. Mortada Mansour, Zamalek newly elected president, fired the Brazilian coach Capral after the coach refused to participate in team's training. Capral had boycotted the training because his monthly salary had been delayed. "He is a bad example for the players and this is illegal," Mansour said of Capral. Assistant coach Ahmed Refaat takes over as temporary manager. In the Confederation Cup, the Arab Contractors and Ismaili both advanced. Ismaili did so without lacing a boot after Rwanda's football side APR were expelled from the Confederation Cup for failing to play their home tie against Ismaili. APR postponed their home tie with Ismaili on 10 April because Rwanda was observing a period of mourning for victims of the genocide in 1994, when an estimated 800,000 people died in tribal fighting. But the Confederation of African Football (CAF) applied Article 16 of its competition regulations which states that any team which refuses to play shall be considered the loser and will be automatically eliminated from the competition. Ismaili thus automatically qualified for the fourth round where they will meet either Tunisia's Esperance or Kaizer Chiefs of South Africa in May. The Contractors had the harder task of advancing, overcoming Sudan's Merriekh 3-0 in Cairo to win 4-3 on aggregate. The Contractors had lost 3-1 in Khartoum and were staring defeat in the face. A 2-0 win in Cairo was needed. The first half did nothing to allay Contractor fears; it ended in a scoreless draw. In the second half, though, Alaa Abdel-Ghani started the ball rolling, scoring for the Contractors in the 49th minute. Making it worse for Merriekh was the red card shown to Youssef Fadl. The Contractors were then handed a penalty as Abdel-Ghani added his second goal in the 66th minute. The Contractors sealed the win when El-Sherbini Antar came through with three minutes to go.
