HomeSports Can Enyimba overcome Al Ahly hurdle today?
Can Enyimba overcome Al Ahly hurdle today?
Written by Patrick Omorodion
Sunday, 05 October 2008
Enyimba Football Club begin the first of their two steps to overcome the semi final hurdle of high-riding Al Ahly of Egypt with the first leg today at the Aba Township stadium where the Aba Elephants are always under pressure to perform.
Enyimba
In the run up to the semi final, Al Ahly showed they are a force to reckon with, garnering more points, 12 than all the four semi finalists. However in the rear, Coton Sport of Cameroon shoved them to the second place, conceding only five to Al Ahly’s six.
Enyimba on their own parade the most potent attack the same way their defence is the most porous after conceding 10 goals, nine of that from their three away group games where they conceded three each. It is the poor away record that is giving their numerous fans at home and abroad as well as the technical crew led by Maurice Cooreman some concern.
They believe for Enyimba to make a third attempt at the trophy and one million dollars prize money, they must win very well today to give the Egyptians a difficult task in the return leg.
The Aba Elephants had a better away record on the two occasions they lifted the trophy, a feat that gave their opponents goose pimples and the Nigerians confidence to confront the north Africans right there on their ground.
Pundits believe the winner of the 2008 CAF Champions League will emerge from this semi final pairing which has been right dubbed final before the real final. And as a result, Nigerians and Enyimba fans in particular who are expected to jam-pack the stadium, chanting victory songs to lift the spirit of their players, expect the championship’s leading scorer with 13 goals, Stephen Worgu to lift his game and get the vital goals that will make the difference in Cairo in a fortnight.
In this year’s competition, though Enyimba have conceded only one goal at home, that scored by Al Hilal their 1-4 demolition, they seem to have struggled to win those matches especially the 2-0 win over TP Mazembe on a soggy pitch.
Even though Enyimba could always fall back to other strikers like, Ezenwa Otorogu, himself the second highest scorer with six goals, Cooreman and his assistant, Austine Eguavoen should be wary of the Egyptian side which parade such notable players like Nations Cup hero, Mohamed Aboutrika and the Angolan duo of Gilberto and Flavio.
At the group stage, Al Ahly posted a 1-0 away win against Dynamos while pulling a 0-0 draw against Asec of Cote d’Ivoire in Abidjan but the Ivorians also stunned them in Cairo with a 2-2 draw. Apart from the Asec draw in Cairo, they won the other two, 2-1 each against rivals, Zamalek and Dynamos. The Egyptians who stunned Enyimba 1-0 in Aba three years ago are not taking today’s match lightly and they arrived Port Harcourt en route Aba in a hired private jet on Friday.
Enyimba must rise to the occasion because these Egyptians will as usual play defensively but with occasional fast counter attacks which could result in a back-breaking away goal that would be costly for Enyimba’s Cup ambition.
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