Al-Masri beats AS Otoho at Borg Al-Arab Stadium
Pyramids FC of Egypt are into the quarter-finals of the TotalEnergies African Confederation Cup despite drawing 1-1 with Tunisian CS Sfaxien in Tunis on Sunday.
Pyramids, 2019-2020 finalists, top the table in Group A with 10 points with two games left, six points ahead of Sfaxien while Libya’s Al Ahly Tripoli are in second place with nine points.
In Group C of the same championship, Egypt’s Masri are tied with Congolese TP Mazembe for the lead with seven points apiece and two games left. Masri scored a 1-0 victory over Congolese AS Otoho d’Oyo at Borg Al-Arab Stadium thanks to Hassan Ali’s brilliant goal seven minutes from time.
The group remains wide open, with Otoho third on four points while Coton Sport of Cameroon are bottom with three points.
In the more prestigious African football club tournament, the Champions League, defending champions Ahly of Egypt lost 1-0 away to Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa, their second loss to the same team with the same score. Namibian Peter Shalulile scored the match’s sole goal, giving his team 10 points in Group A with two games left.
The loss left Ahly with four points with two home matches left against Sudan’s Al Hilal and Al Merrikh who also have four points each.
Despite the defeat, Ahly’s South African coach Pitso Mosimane said he was still hopeful that the team would remain in the top two of the group and win its two remaining matches.
“We have two games to play and we should win them as they will be played in Cairo and this is a golden chance for us. It is going to be tough but this is what football is and we have done this before many times,” Mosimane, a former Sundowns coach, said in the post-match press conference.
Meanwhile, Cairo giants Zamalek are out of the Champions League after losing against two-time Moroccan champion Wydad 1-0 at Cairo International Stadium.
Skipper Yahya Jabrane scored the lone goal off the penalty spot in the second half to hand Wydad their third victory in Group D and a quarter-final berth and knock out five-time winners Zamalek.
Petro de Luanda of Angola lead the group with 10 points with two games left. Wydad have nine points.
After the disappointing home defeat against Wydad, Mortada Mansour, Zamalek’s newly re-elected president, announced in a press conference that Zamalek will not extend the contracts of Moroccan winger Achraf Bencharki, midfielder Tarek Hamed and Egyptian international keeper Mohamed Abu Gabal after growing increasingly frustrated with their negotiations.
Zamalek also announced that Moroccan winger Mohamed Ounajem won’t have his contract prolonged along with Tunisian off-form striker Seifeddine Jaziri who will be put up for sale. Mansour stressed that his club’s decision regarding not renewing their contracts is irreversible.
Returning Zamalek coach Jesualdo Ferreira said he will do his best with the team “to take it back to its glory days of winning” by capturing the Egyptian Premier League and Egypt Cup.
“I want to say that I am happy with my return to Zamalek, and I promise to repeat the same achievements I did with the team previously,” Ferreira said. “I never thought I would return to Zamalek after a 47-year-long career of coaching, but I agreed as I enjoy the challenge,” the Portuguese coach added.
In 2015 Ferreira led Zamalek to the rare double.
Zamalek are currently in third place in the Premier League with 25 points from 11 games. First place Ahly have 28 points from 10 matches.
*A version of this article appears in print in the 17 March, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.
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