Back to Winning Ways in Champions League
The Red Eagles achieved an important 3-1 win over Al Merrikh of Sudan on Friday in the fifth fixture of the CAF Champions League group stage at Al Ahly WE Al Salam Stadium.
We are back to winning ways in the competition after losing last week to Mamelodi Sundowns in South Africa. We are now in a better position ahead of the final round, which will be played after the international break.
The game witnessed a special moment when Mohamed Sherif scored our second goal, which marked our 600th goal in African competitions.
First Half
Tonight, we wore our away jersey despite playing at Al Ahly Stadium as it was the home match for Al Merrikh, who used our ground to play their home matches in the group stage.
It was a slow start to the match from both sides with our players calmly passing the ball, trying to find the channels in the Sudanese defense.
After 19 minutes, we grabbed the lead thanks to a clinical finish from Percy Tau, who fired a shot that went past the goalkeeper.
Nine minutes later, we were close to doubling the score when Ali Maaloul sprinted down the left flank, received a beautiful pass from Afsha, and sent a ground cross but the defense cleared the ball.
The next minutes did not witness big opportunities and we were able to have the lead by the end of the first half.
Second Half
Coach Mosimane made a substitution at half-time as Taher Mohamed Taher came on to replace Tau.
The Sudanese team surprised our players with waves of attacks to find the equalizer.
In the 52nd minute, Ramadan Agab received the ball inside our box and shot the ball but the bar denied his effort.
We were forced to make another change when Karim Fouad replaced Mohamed Hany who suffered an injury.
Al Merrikh equalized the score 15 minutes after the interval by Agab, who followed a rebounded shot to make the score 1-1.
Mosimane needed to make his third substitution after the equalizer as Ahmed Abdelkader replaced El Shahat to add more attacking power.
The Red Eagles managed to score two goals in the space of three minutes.
Afsha sent the ball to Ali Maaloul, who had the time to bring the ball under control before sending a smooth pass to Sherif, who did the rest to put us in front.
Sherif’s goal was our chance to achieve a remarkable milestone as we celebrated our 600th goal in African competitions.
We did not take much time to put the game into bed as Ahmed Abdelkader found his way through the defense of Al Merrikh and put the ball into the back of the net with a beautiful finish.
We are now second in the group with seven points and our fate is now in our hands to march into the quarter-finals.
