Not only did Ahli lose but they were trapped in Mali following a military coup, Ahmed Morsy reports By Tuesday night, the Ahli football squad had not yet returned from Mali after losing to Stade Malien in the African Champions League first leg match of round 16 on Sunday. The Egyptian team has been trapped in the capital city Bamako, caught up in a military coup. Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, head of Egypt's ruling military council, agreed on Tuesday to send a military aircraft to Mali, which has been in the throes of violence since an initial coup in March, to bring back the team and press delegation. On Ahli's official website, the delegation announced that players and staff cannot leave their hotel, with severe weather conditions adding to the political turmoil. "The club's president Hassan Hamdi is in permanent contact with me," board member Khaled El-Darandali, manager of Ahli's delegation in Bamako, was quoted as saying on the website on Tuesday. "He said it was agreed with Field Marshal Tantawi that a military aircraft would be sent to take us home," El-Darandali added. The local media claimed that a jet was already on its way on Tuesday to the Ivory Coast capital of Abidjan, waiting for permission to land in Bamako. Shadi El-Sharkawi, the Egyptian consul in Bamako, confirmed that he received authorisation from Mali for an Egyptian military plane to land in order to evacuate the players. Though the team reported hearing gunfire in the streets surrounding their hotel, the delegation is safe, according to defender Sherif Abdel-Fadil who was quoted on the club's website. "We are all okay but very anxious as we want to get back home, and especially since we don't know when will we be allowed to leave," Abdel-Fadil said. The club is staying in a tightly guarded hotel along with the media crew that accompanied them. Before the coup fireworks, Ahli suffered an excruciating away 1-0 defeat at Mali's Stade Malien in their first leg match. Though the loss was not too damaging, Ahli need to win by more than one goal when the second leg takes place in Cairo on 13 May. Unlike Ahli, Zamalek edged closer to the prized group stage of the same tournament thanks to their 2-0 win over hosts Morocco's Moghreb Fes a day earlier. A third Egyptian club, Enppi, beat Mali's CO Bamako 3-1 at home in the continent's second tier football club championship, the CAF Confederation Cup, in its round of 16 first leg on Friday. Sunday seemed to be one of Ahli's off-days not only because of the dramatic injury-time goal, but also in terms of a dust storm swirling around the Mali stadium, injuries and below par performances. For viewers too, the live broadcast of the game was impaired by too much static and poor resolution. Consequently, Ahli fans flooded Facebook and Twitter with acerbic comments on the quality pictures of the transmission. One said the cameraman was using a Nokia 6600, an outdated 640x480 pixels camera, ridiculing the pale presentation. In the 8th minute, Ahli's defence was hit badly when veteran defender Wael Gomaa was substituted by teammate Sherif Abdel-Fadil due to injury. Gomaa was intended by coach Manuel Jose to replace missing sweeper captain Hossam Ghali, ruled out of the match due to a recent dispute with the Portuguese coach. The defensive shuffle did not affect the former champions during the first half as they always looked closer to breaking the deadlock, with Dominique da Silva missing a couple of good chances. Fifteen minutes from time, Emad Meteb, thanks to Mohamed Abu Trieka, went clear on goal after rounding the keeper but fell following a slight touch. The referee was unconvinced by Meteb's shouts demanding a penalty. During the dying minutes of the game, Ahli looked satisfied with the away draw only for Lamine Diawara to head in the winner for the hosts after taking advantage of some poor marking to rise for a cross and head past Ekrami from close range. As for Zamalek, the five-time African champions have one foot in the CAF Champions League group stage thanks to two similar second-half headers by Egypt skipper Ahmed Hassan and Ahmed Gaafar. "The Egyptian side who came into the match following a cancelled national league in the country did not look affected by this at all and dictated pace during the game," CAF online described Zamalek. Zamalek now take a healthy 2-0 win back to Cairo for the return fixture in two weeks time. Zamalek's main concern was the injury of their goalie Abdel-Wahed El-Sayed. Substitute keeper Mahmoud Abdel-Rahim 'Gennesh' was the only option while striker Gaafar was announced as his deputy keeper. Although Zamalek were supposed to face a stern challenge from the Confederation Cup's reigning champions, hosts Moghreb Fes were nowhere near threatening as their opponents looked more dangerous through attacking midfielders Shikabala and Hassan. Zamalek broke the deadlock only 13 minutes from time after relying on the counterattack throughout the second half. It was Hassan �ê" history's most capped player �ê" who nodding home an Ibrahim Salah cross from the right into an empty net. In the 85th minute, Zamalek's coach Hassan Shehata replaced striker Amr Zaki for Gaafar, with Gaafar scoring his team's second goal in the 89th minute. Gaafar connected with a pin-point cross from fellow sub Hazem Emam, who replaced Hassan, heading a carbon copy strike of Hassan. Like Hassan, Gaafar picked up a daft yellow card for taking his shirt off to celebrate his goal. In the second legs, Ahli and Zamalek seem determined not to play the second leg games without what they describe as the "extraordinary support" from the stands, insisting that fans must be allowed in. "We are in dire need of our fans. Stade Malien proved to be a good team so we need extraordinary support against them," Ahli football director Sayed Abdel-Hafiz told the club's satellite channel. "Things were not clear before the game, but this time I have to say we won't be able to play without our fans." After unsuccessful attempts to have their fans in the stands against Ethiopian Coffee in the round of 32, this time Ahli seem firm over the Stade Malien clash. "Whether we play in Cairo Stadium or the Military Academy, we want our fans," Abdel-Hafiz said. But both Cairo games are likely to be staged behind closed doors for security reasons as authorities insist on preventing fans gathering in football matches since the Port Said disaster. However, Zamalek said they are set to "coordinate with Ahli in order to persuade security forces to hold the game in the presence of fans." In recent weeks Zamalek, Ahli and Enppi have been playing continental home games behind closed doors while the Egyptian national team has been forced to hold friendlies abroad. As for Enppi, Ivorian striker Vincent Di Foneye netted twice and was awarded a penalty to help the club defeat CO Bamako 3-1 on Friday at home in the CAF Confederation Cup round 16 first leg. The second leg game is scheduled to be played on 12 May in Mali. The Petroleum club announced it will ask the CAF to change the location of the game against Malian side CO Bamako for their second leg in the CAF Confederation Cup. The game is scheduled to be played in Mali but the Egyptian club requested the change of venue following the recent violence and instability in the west African country that affected Ahli.
