Once more, the Red Shirts of Cairo meet Tunis' Blood and Gold. Abeer Anwar reports on how the teams reached the final of the African Champions League Ahli made it to the final of the Orange CAF African Champions league after beating Sunshine Stars of Nigeria 1-0 in Cairo on Sunday. Six-time African champions Ahli advanced 4-3 overall and face arch rivals Esperance of Tunisia over two legs next month, with the Egyptians having home advantage first on 4 November. The second will take place in Tunis on 17 November. Mohamed Nagi 'Geddo' scored the game's sole goal of the game against Sunshine, from a deflected shot past goalkeeper Moses Ocheje after 28 minutes to settle the second leg of the semi-final after a 3-3 draw in Nigeria two weeks ago. Geddo, who became the five-goal star of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations after entering the tournament as an unknown, had scored only once in the CAF Champions League this season before the semi-finals. But a first-leg brace followed by the second-leg winner lifts him to four goals, two less than leading Ahli scorer Mohamed Abu Treika. Ahli controlled most of the match while first time African competitors Sunshine seemed hesitant and ready for defeat from the first minute. "Ahli players did the impossible," Hossam Al-Badri, Ahli's coach, said after the match. They were able to qualify to the final in very harsh circumstances as the local league competition is completely stopped and the players are playing without fans. In addition to that, they are facing great psychological pressure because of the Ahli Ultras. "Added to this, unfortunately our first choice left back Sayed Moawad was injured and unavailable, as were Walid Suleiman and Ousso Konan. Wael Gomaa picked up an injury during a friendly but fortunately was not sidelined. We had replacements like Ahmed Shedid who covered for Moawad on the left side. We were also missing Abu Treika who is facing a ban. In addition, the game is the first to be played at the new 30 June Stadium in Cairo suburs which is a very good stadium but the wind was a problem." Al-Badri made it clear that Abu Treika will play in the finals first-leg match. He also addressed the minister of interior and top officials to allow the fans to attend the first leg final match "as this will give the players a great push and confidence especially in front of a tough opponent as Esperance of Tunis. "Even if the fans will not be allowed, the armed forces can attend with their soldiers together with Ahli officials to back the team who can see the stands full and this will increase the players' enthusiasm." Appearing on Al-Jazeera Al-Riyadiah, Al-Badri expressed his fear of the referees for the final especially, he added, that the previous experiences with Esperance in past African finals "was not good." Esperance have knocked Ahli out of the championship the last two years. "But I am sure that this time it will be different as it will be a great chance for us to avenge ourselves especially that the first leg final match will be played in Cairo," Al-Badri said. Sayed Abdel-Hafiz, Ahli's football manager, announced that bonuses for Ahli players will be doubled if they win the African title. He also said Ahli players will be allowed 48 hours rest and will play two friendlies against Tanta and Wadi Degla as preparation for their African games. "Ahli players will only be given the first day of the Adha feast off but they will have to return quickly to training to prepare for the finals," said Abdel-Hafiz, whose long-range goal against Esperance a decade ago gave Ahli a stunning win when he was a player. Nigeria's Sunshine were prevented for some time from leaving their hotel in Cairo to the stadium after a number of Ahli's Ultras surrounded their accommodation. The Ultras were complaining that the African federation, or CAF, were prevented Ahli from putting black armbands with the number 72 on them while playing in the match. The figure represents the number of spectators, most Ahli fans, who died in February in a horrific soccer riot in a league match. Egypt's football authorities eventually persuaded CAF to allow the armbands in. The Ultras ultimately allowed Sunshine players to leave their hotel, the Baron, located in the suburb of Heliopolis. At the end the match was delayed for half an hour before police drove the Sunshine players safely to the match. The Ultras, angered by what they say is a slow judicial process to bring those behind the massacre to justice, are threatening to invade stadium pitches across Egypt should the authorities go ahead and start the league season. Following the tragedy, the league season was cancelled and any other matches in Egypt, like in the African tournaments, were played without fans for fear of a repeat. Ahli's star striker Abu Treika declined to play in the Super Cup of last month in support with the Ultras who do not want any football played until what they call retribution is served. However, Ahli fined the player half a million pounds and banned him from playing indefinitely. Esperance reached their third consecutive Orange CAF Champions League final after a 1-0 home win over TP Mazembe from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Defender Mohamed Ben Mansour scored the only goal of the two-leg semi-final with 20 minutes left in Tunis, side footing into the net a flick-on following a free kick. According to cafonline.com success was particularly sweet for the 'Blood and Gold' after a humiliating 6-1 overall loss to Mazembe in the 2010 final, with the Congolese going on to become the first African finalists in the FIFA Club World Cup. Esperance bounced back last season in Africa to win the Champions League a second time, defeating Wydad Casablanca of Morocco 1-0 overall to bridge a 17-year gap. The champions will pocket $1.5m plus a place at the 2012 Club World Cup in Japan to be played in December.
