Ahli's 4-0 defeat to Barcelona in Tuesday's exhibition game came as a slap on the face for the Egyptian and African champions amid their centennial celebrations. The huge score line proved that in the forty six years that passed, since Barcelona beat Ahli 6-1 in 1961, nothing has changed. Ahli's die hard fans were hit with the reality of the situation at the Cairo International Stadium after days of anticipation during which they dreamt the Red Devils could embarrass the Catalan giants on home soil. But it's not the fault of these fans who were tricked, by the local media, into thinking that Ahli club and its players have become intercontinental superstars just because they finished third at the 2006 Club World Cup after beating an amateur side from New Zealand and a mediocre team from Mexico. Watching Ahli's net receive four goals from Barcelona's first and second tier players just made me pity the Egyptian fans who wanted to see their team face the outgoing European champions in Japan.
Just thinking that they beat Ahli 4-0 in an exhibition game, what would have been the outcome had the encounter been a competitive one? Just thinking that they beat Ahli 4-0 in an exhibition game, what would have been the outcome had the encounter been a competitive one? Ahli's players showed no spine, motivation or spirit against a Barcelona team that had just played in the Spanish league 48 hours before and came to Cairo to visit the pyramids and even refused to hold a training session before the match. There is no doubt that Ahli's players let down their fans who packed the stadium since noon and who would not have cared about the score line if their side had showed some resistance. The end result is that Ahli suffered a humiliating defeat that spoiled their 100 year anniversary celebrations and will definitely have a negative impact on their local and continental campaigns. Even though we can all vouch that Ahli is the strongest team in Africa, Asia, Oceania and maybe even North America, but what we have to understand and acknowledge is that there is a long way to be gone before we can catch up with the true football powerhouses in Europe and South America.
