CAIRO - Al-Ahly board member Khaled el-Darandaly said Friday that the team had experienced very difficult circumstances in Mali, Egypt's official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported . “We thank God for our team's safe return,” el-Darandaly said at a press conference Friday, adding that Coach Manuel José da Silva dealt wisely with the situation. El-Darandal explained that he apologised to José for these unfortunate events. “José said that we are all in the same boat, there was no need to apologise.” Al-Ahly, lost Sunday's match with 1-0 to Stade Malien in the African Champions League (ACL), arrived in Cairo early yesterday on an Egyptian army plane. The team had been marooned in Mali due to clashes between the ruling military junta and supporters of Mali's ousted leader. The capital Bamako was paralysed and the airport closed. The head of the Ahly mission in Mali stressed that all members of the Ahly mission had a great deal of understanding, and awareness, everyone came together and cooperated to get out of this crisis. El-Darandal explained that he had rejected a proposal to travel from Mali to Nigeria by bus. El-Darandaly apologised to the Red Devils' fans after losing the ACL first leg against Stade Malien, stressing that the team would be able to compensate in the return leg and qualify for the Group Stage of the tournament. The Ahly mission was welcomed by Emad el-Banani, the Chairman of the National Sports Council (NSC), Hamdi Hassan, the Chairman of Al-Ahly Club and a number of the club board members, including representatives of the country's ruling military council. “We deserved to win the ACL first leg against Stade Malien but luck was against us,” Manuel José da Silva was quoted as saying on the club's official website. "But we promise that the team can win in the return match in Cairo and qualify for the ACL Groups stage,” José added. Mohamed Badr, Enppi club president, said that he would not have agreed for the club players to travel to Mali in such uncertain times. "We asked the CAF to transfer their second-leg round 16 match in the African Confederation Cup against Cercle de Bamako of Mali on May 12 to somewhere outside Mali, and we are waiting for the CAF's response," MENA quoted Badr as saying. Enppi grabbed a 3-1 win over Cercle in the first leg in Cairo, thanks to Ivorian striker Vincent di Foneye, who grabbed a brace, while Amr el-Halawani scored once. The coaching staff of the petroleum team was due to travel to Mali on May 8 in readiness for the return match, but after Monday's counter-coup, they asked the CAF to transfer the game away from Mali.
