Al-Ahly under pressure - Coach

  1. Posted on Thursday 30 October 2008 - 14:40
    Dolphyne
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    Joseph Appiah-Dolphyne, AfricaNews editor in Accra, Ghana
    The coach of Al-Ahly, Manuel Jose, has said hot favourites Al-Ahly of Egypt must overcome huge pressure this weekend when they host Cotonsport Garoua of Cameroon in the first leg of the African Champions League final. Alhly is seeking to have a sixth championship title with the Portuguese coach.
    Al Ahly
    "When we play at the Cairo Stadium my players are always under pressure from our supporters," admitted the 62-year-old Portuguese coach.

    He said: "Away from home when Ahly are under no pressure, we perform well. We put on a good display when forcing a goalless draw against Enyimba in Aba despite playing on a terrible pitch."

    "We will do our best to win the first leg in Cairo against Cotonsportto make our task of overcoming them easier. Ahly have the best footballers in Africa so we should go for a win whenever and wherever we play," he added.

    Chasing a record sixth Champions League title, Ahly defeated Platinum Stars of South Africa, Zamalek of Egypt, Dynamos of Zimbabwe and Enyimba of Nigeria at home and drew with ASEC Mimosas of Ivory Coast en route to the final.

    But some victory margins were narrower than expected with Ahly having two goals to spare over African rookies Platinum, but only one in the other three Cairo triumphs.
    And they were lucky to overcome Dynamos with midfielder Mohamed Aboutraika, the best known Ahly star, snatching the decisive goal in a 2-1 win four minutes into stoppage time.

    In previous African campaigns, an early Ahly strike was often the signal for a goal avalanche, but this failed to materialise after Angolan striker Flavio Amado headed his team into a 26th-minute lead against Enyimba.

    Jose, the most successful foreign coach of Ahly in their 102-year history, has come under fire from the Egyptian media for the failure of his star-studded squad to win more decisively.

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