African champions Ahli will face their toughest test of the season when they host Ivory Coast side ASEC Mimosas in the first-leg of the Champions League semi-finals in Cairo on Sunday. Only last year the Egyptian champions were a shoe-in the competition final after being drawn to face arch-rivals Zamalek, who were going through a rough period, in the semi-finals. Today, Ahli's players will have bigger challenges, ones that they have not encountered last year. Ahli's first challenge is that they have much stronger opponents in ASEC than they had in Zamalek last year. Second, the Egyptian champions are playing the first game at home, which means they have to win big in order to play the return leg in a more comfortable fashion. The third and toughest challenge for Ahli though will be overcoming the injuries to a number of their key players, a situation which left the team lacking its usual flair, stamina and lethality. Ahli coach Manuel Jose will be without a number of top players in Sunday's game. Defenders Emad Al-Nahhas and Ahmed Al-Sayed are still nursing long term injuries. Wingers Mohamed Barakat and Gilberto are yet to get into form after recovering from their long layoffs. Ahli will also be missing defender Mohamed Sedik and Angolan striker Flavio Amado who are both serving a one-match ban, in addition to the deceased Mohamed Abdul-Wahab. Yet, despite managing a depleted squad, Jose chose to omit other players for undisclosed reasons like Mohamed Abdullah and the energetic Hassan Mostafa. Ahli's main problem lies in defence as they are missing three players and Jose will have to start the inexperienced Abdul-Ellah Galal. The Egyptian champions have given a mediocre performance both on the continental level this season, settling for a 1-1 draw against minnows Tersana in their last league game, a result that left fans uncomfortable before Sunday's game.
ASEC Mimosas "It is a rough game, but we will do our best to overcome ASEC," Ahli goalkeeper Essam Al-Hadari told FilGoal.com. The Ivorian giants finished the group stage unbeaten, scoring 11 goals and conceding only one in their six Group B matches. "I watched videos of their previous games so I can visualize the way their strikers play," said Al-Hadari. "I think I'm ready to take them on." Assistant coach Hossam Al-Badri echoed Al-Hadari's sentiment and noting that Ahli have managed to surpass Ivorian opponents on more than one occasion. Ahli's head-to-head record against ASEC Al-Badri may have been right about Ahli's record against Ivorian teams in general, but when it comes to ASEC the two teams are at level after four games. Ahli's first two games against ASEC were in the quarter-finals of the African Cup Winners Cup in 1984. The Red Devils lost the first-leg 2-1 in Abidjan but recovered to win 3-1 in the return leg, courtesy of goals from Mahmoud Al-Khatib, Zakareya Nassef and Mahmoud Saleh. Their third and fourth encounters were in the 2001 African Champions League, and again, Ahli lost the first match in Abidjan 1-0 and edged past the 'Yellow and Black' with a 2-1 victory in Cairo, with Alaa Ibrahim and Wael Gomaa scoring Ahli's goals. Ahli's probable line-up: Essam Al-Hadari, Shadi Mohamed, Wael Gomaa, Abdul-Ellah Galal, Islam Al-Shater, Tarek Al-Saied, Mohamed Shawki, Hossam Ashour, Mohamed Abou-Treika, Osama Hosni and Emad Meteb.
