Ahli got the job done, but just barely, and are now in the semi-finals of the African Champions League, reports Ahmed Morsy Defending champions Ahli defeated Ivory Coast's ASEC Mimosas 2-0 at home on Sunday to reach the semi-finals of the African Champions League. The five-time champions will now play Al-Ittihad of Libya in the semi-finals while Al-Hilal of Sudan take on Etoile du Sahel of Tunisia in the other semi-final match. Before Sunday's matches, Ahli were tied with Hilal on nine points each for the group's supremacy but the Sudanese were atop based on better head-to-head encounters. The deadlock in a tense winner-takes-all tussle was broken 14 minutes from time by Flavio Amado who capitalised on a defensive blunder to poke the ball over the line after Gilberto's low cross was misdirected by ASEC defender Khaled Adenon. Mohamed Abou-Treika sealed the victory, coming off the bench to steal the ball following a wayward pass from goalkeeper Mohamed Kabore. Ahli coach Manuel Jose had fielded Abou- Treika for midfielder Hassan Mustafa in the 69th minute in an attempt to try to vitalise his attack. The absence of key midfielder Mohamed Shawki, who joined English club Middlesbrough last week, was not, in Jose's opinion, responsible for Ahli's sub-standard performance. "If I thought Shawki's departure would affect us, I would not have agreed to the transfer." Rather, Jose blamed the players' fear of losing the match, and thus a semi-final berth, as the main culprit. Ahli were in need of either a win or a tie to go the semis. A loss would have dumped them out of the tournament. In the end, they ended with 12 points in Group B, two more than Hilal which tied 1-1 with Esperance of Tunisia in Tunis. Asec and Esperance drop out of the championship, having collected seven and five points respectively. In Group A in the same tournament, Al-Ittihad of Libya outclassed Etoile du Sahel of Tunisia 2-0 on Saturday to reach the semi-finals. Al-Ittihad finished with 10 points to come in second while twice runners-up Etoile finished atop the group with 11 points. Al-Ittihad thus become the first Libyan qualifiers for the penultimate phase in the 11-year competition after being in a group that had on paper stronger teams in Etoile, former champions JS Kabylie of Algeria and FAR Rabat of Morocco. However, workmanlike Ittihad coach Serb Branko Smiljanic began with a 1-0 home win over Kabylie followed by a shock 0-0 draw at Etoile and retained second place throughout the six-round series. FAR Rabat and JS Kayblie drew 1-1 at the same time in Rabat to see both go out. Kayblie finished with seven points and Rabat five. Ahli, who are aiming to win an unprecedented third successive Champions League title, will meet Al-Ittihad in Libya on 22 September in the first leg. In the African Confederation Cup, Ismaili took over third place in Group B after their hard-fought 1-0 home win over Nigeria's Dolphin on Sunday. The victory moved the Dervishes to third with five points, one behind second-placed Dolphin and two adrift of leaders Al-Merrikh of Sudan with two matches to go. Kwara United are last with four points after their 4-1 away defeat to Al-Merrikh. Ismaili dominated the entire match in terms of possession but threatened the visitors' net on just a few occasions. In stoppage time, the in-form Iraqi striker Mustafa Karim sent Ismaili fans into ecstasy after notching the decisive goal. In Group A of the same tournament, CS Sfaxien of Tunisia overcame TP Mazembe of the DR of Congo 2-0 to regain first spot with seven points. In the other group match, Mamelodi Sundowns lost 1-0 to Astres Douala in Cameroon. Mazembe and Sundowns have six points each while Astres prop up the table with four.
