Mohamed "Gedo" Nagy of Egypt's Al-Ahly celebrates after scoring against Tunisia's CS Sfaxien during their African Super Cup soccer match at Cairo Stadium February 20, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)
Ahly extended their African Super Cup domination to six titles after claiming a thrilling 3-2 win over Tunisia's Sfaxien at Cairo Stadium on Thursday.
The Champions League holders took a two-goal lead through Egypt forward Mohamed "Gedo" Nagy and young striker Amr Gamal either side of the interval before full-back Ali Maaloul pulled one back from the spot in the 54th minute.
The up-and-coming Gamal again proved his credentials as Ahly's reliable frontman, scoring the third on 68 minutes as the Cairo giants had to endure a nervy ending to the game when the on-fire Fakhreddine Ben Youssef gave his side hope again eight minutes from time.
The Reds welcomed their home fans for the first time since last year's Champions League final in December. A limited number of only 30,000 supporters were allowed to attend the game.
Highly-rated former coach Manuel Jose was also watching the game from the stands, with speculation rife that the Portuguese tactician is set for a fourth stint at Ahly's helm.
Ahly have now become the first team in the Dark Continent to win two consecutive CAF Super Cups, with their last trophy coming against Congo's Leopards in 2013.
Gedo's controversial goal gives Ahly lead
A reeling Ahly side were far from impressive early on, with Ben Youssef proving a handful on the counter on a couple of occasions, hitting two powerful strikes after bursting into the area inside the opening 10 minutes.
Ahly began to redeem themselves gradually, even though they suffered from huge pockets of spaces in their midfield, until Gedo put them ahead in the 23rd minute – albeit in controversial fashion.
The CAN 2010 top-scorer latched onto a diagonal cross from Ahmed Fathy before slotting past the keeper, although he looked to be in an offside position.
Four-goal thriller
Just nine minutes into the second half, Ahly doubled their lead - with Gamal this time getting a foot into a free kick from the off-colour Abdallah El-Saied to prod home past the keeper, who shares a big responsibility in the goal.
A rash tackle, however, from Egypt full-back Sayed Moawad against Ben Youssef gave Sfaxien a penalty, with Maaloul pulling one back after sending keeper Ekramy the wrong way in the 63rd minute.
But Ahly needed just five minutes to extend their lead, with Gamal bagging his second of the night brilliantly after heading home a pin-point cross from newly-signed Moussa Yedan – who had just come on as a substitute.
Another key substitute in the game, forward Yassin Khenissi, scored the goal of the night when he superbly tricked defender Mohamed Naguib outside the box before rifling an unstoppable strike that beat Ekramy.
Ahly endured a torrid spell during the final minutes of the game with the Tunisians mounting pressure in search of the equaliser as the Cairo side held on to claim a record sixth African Super Cup trophy.
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