Injuries to Francis Doe and Mohamed Talaat left Ahli short of fit forwards for Sunday's anticipated African Champions League clash away to Tunisia's Esperance. Liberian striker Doe picked up a hamstring injury during his national team's 2-1 defeat by Mali in the 2012 African Cup of Nations qualifiers. Talaat, a 21-year-old stand-in frontman, also suffered a similar injury during training earlier this week. "Doe and Talaat could not accompany the team in their trip to Tunisia after failing to recover from injuries in time for Sunday's game," Ahli said in a statement on their website on Thursday. The duo's absence came at a bad time for Ahli coach Hossam Al-Badri who appeared to have finally settled on a reliable strike partnership after struggling to fill the void left by the summer departure of Emad Meteb early in the season. Doe and Mohamed Fadl produced fine displays when they played together upfront during Ahli's Egyptian Premier League victory over Military Production and the 2-1 win over Esperance in the first leg of the Champions League semi final. Fadl, the only fit experienced striker at Al-Badri's disposal, is likely to be deployed as a lone frontman against Esperance. The former Ismaili man opened the scoring against Esperance in Cairo with a controversial goal that should have been disallowed for a clear handball. Lebanese striker Mohamed Ghaddar, who has rarely featured for Ahli since his close-season arrival, will act as Fadl's understudy although Al-Badri is highly unlikely to field him in the vital encounter against the Tunisian outfit. Six-time African champions Ahli are bidding to reach the final of Africa's premier club competition for the fifth time in the last six years. Esperance won the old version of the competition once in 1994 and reached the final of the new format twice in 1999 and 2000.
