A Goalless Draw in Sudan
The Red Eagles started their journey in the CAF Champions League group stage with a 0-0 draw on Friday afternoon in Sudan against Al Hilal.
The game did not witness many goal-scoring chances from both sides and the goalkeepers were not tested much during the 90 minutes.
Our best chance in the game came seconds before the final whistle as Mohamed Magdy Afsha’s shot hit the post.
We are back from Sudan with the first point in the group as our game against Al Merrikh in Matchday 1 was postponed due to our participation in the FIFA Club World Cup in the UAE.
First Half
The game started with a slow tempo between the two sides who both failed to create threatening chances in the opening minutes.
We were dominating the midfield with short passes between our midfielders but their attempts to dissect the Sudanese defense and find our striker Mohamed Sherif did not materialize.
Aliou Dieng cut the ball and sent a beautiful pass to Mohamed Sherif, but Al Hilal defender reached the ball before our striker.
Al Hilal had a chance to open the score minutes before half-time as they had a free-kick from a dangerous area but the shot hit the wall and went for a corner.
Second Half
We were the better side in the first minutes of the second half and were so close from breaking the deadlock. Ali Maaloul found the space in the left flank to receive the ball and then he sent a ground cross, but Al Hilal’s goalkeeper was in the perfect place to stop the danger.
Pitso Mosimane used his bench as Mohamed Magdy Afsha and Hussein El Shahat replaced Ahmed Abdelkader and Taher Mohamed Taher.
We had another scoring chance in the game, as Afsha used his head to give Sherif a perfect pass, but our striker’s first-time shot went over the bar.
Mosimane made another tactical substitution as Hossam Hassan joined the game instead of Mohamed Sherif.
In the last minute of the game, we were close to scoring the winner. Afsha cut inside and fired a strike that was close to giving the Red Eagles the three points, but his efforts hit the post.
The final minutes went by and the referee blew his whistle to finish the game in a goalless draw.
