ASEC hold Ahli in meaningless affair

Ahli played out a 2-2 home draw with Ivory Coast's ASEC Mimosas in a meaningless CAF Champions League encounter on Sunday.

كتب : Hatem Maher

الإثنين، 22 سبتمبر 2008 - 00:00
Ahli played out a 2-2 home draw with Ivory Coast's ASEC Mimosas in a meaningless CAF Champions League encounter on Sunday.

The Red Devils were already assured of a last-four berth, having finished on top of Group A.

Zimbabwean side Dynamos accompanied them to the semis after defeating Zamalek 1-0 earlier on the same day.

Ahli's Portuguese coach Manuel Jose rested several regulars. He fielded forgotten duo Osama Hosni and Ahmed Belal upfront.

Hosni failed to impress while Belal showed flashes of his talent that once saw him rated the best striker in Egypt.

Ahli's star playmaker Mohamed Abou-Treika opened the scoring after five minutes.

ASEC's stranded defenders paved the way for the Egyptian international to power home a free header after being set-up by Belal's cross from the right.

Ladji Kone equalized just one minute later when he chested a long ball on the edge of the area before shrugging off a challenge from Rami Adel to side-foot past the advancing Amir Abdul-Hamid.

Substitute Mahmoud Samir, who failed to impress since joining from Tersana last January, restored Ahli's advantage in the 75th minute.

He skipped past an ASEC midfielder before firing a low bullet that bounced off the ground and went into the corner of the net.

Cyriac Gohi drew ASEC level again 11 minutes from time with a fierce low drive.