Over the last few weeks, and even before the CAF Champions League final first leg, Coton Sport officials and players have been over-confident that they will beat Ahli and win the competition for the first time in their history. Coton's progress as a football team over the last 15 years has been more than impressive, as they came out of nowhere to dominate domestic competitions in Cameroon with seven consecutive league titles since 2001. But with no African titles on their shelves, and a single achievement of reaching the CAF Confederation Cup final once in 2004, Coton are still a newly born power in the continent. However, that didn't stop their officials from undermining Ahli's excellence. "We are capable of winning in Cairo. My team have the sufficient quality to beat Ahli and we don't need to implement a defensive strategy when we face them," Coton coach Alain Ouombleon said before the first leg. Even after the merciful defeat in Cairo in the first leg, Coton coach and players still believe that they are a better side than the five-time African Champions, and thus have a better chance of overcoming the two goal deficit and win the trophy in Garoua. "We will avenge our loss in the return leg. We are going to show Ahli the same courtesy when we host them on November 16th," the Cameroonian coach confirmed right after the Cairo loss. Ouombleon's statements have been echoed by his players, who don't think that their first leg performance showed a considerable gap between their team and the Cairo giants. "My teammates have enough experience to turn around the result." "Ahli have suffered enormously when we started playing our normal game after the two early goals," skipper Ahmadou Ngomna said after the first leg.
Coton are yet to lose or even concede at home in this season's Champions League, and obviously the amazing record is something the Cameroonians want to build on in the return leg. "We will have the advantage of playing at home, where Ahli will have to deal with a lot more determination from our players," striker Ousmalia Baba said. Ahli's perspective On the other hand, and despite the historical and current superiority, Ahli have shown a more moderate approach to the final in general, as well as more respect for their opponents. "Coton are a very ambitious side playing at home, but our players have experience and they are capable of facing the difficult circumstances," said assistant coach Hossam Al-Badri. "The players just have to be focused on their mission without paying attention to the surrounding atmosphere in Garoua." He added. Striker Ahmed Belal, who missed the first leg due to injury, also praised Coton for their current Champions League campaign. "If Coton made it to the final, that means they are a good and respectful team and we have to be careful against them," said striker Ahmed Belal. With the second leg just few days away, it remains to be seen whether Coton's confidence will finally be translated to a positive result or Ahli's 2-0 lead will have a practical upper hand.
