Al Ahly were held to a 2-2 draw against AS Vita Club on Saturday in Matchday 3 of the CAF Champions League group stage.
The visitors opened the score four minutes before half-time by Glody Lilepo while our substitutes Mohamed Sherif and Marwan Mohsen scored Al Ahly’s goals in the 69th minute and the 71st minute respectively but the Congolese team equalized the score 10 minutes before the final whistle from a controversial penalty.
Al Ahly and AS Vita Club are second in the group with four points, three points behind the leaders Simba SC of Tanzania while Al Merrikh of Sudan are at the bottom of the group table with one point.
The Red Eagles totally dominated the match and managed to create several scoring opportunities but we failed to convert those opportunities to the net as we were unlucky in the game.
Big Motivations
Al Ahly had a strong start to the match as we were defensively organized and tried to find cracks in the opponent’s defense.
Our left-back Mahmoud Wahid suffered a hamstring injury after 9 minutes and he was forced to leave the pitch and was substituted by Yasser Ibrahim.
Our head coach re-organized the defense as Yasser partnered with Badr Benoun in the center while Ayman Ashraf moved to the left-back position.
Three minutes later, Ashraf sent a perfect cross to Afsha, whose header was saved by the opponent’s goalkeeper. Afsha tried again after two minutes but his shot missed the target.
We continued our attacks from the flanks as Mohamed Hany and Ayman Ashraf kept sending crosses to the box while Afsha and Junior Ajayi attacked the opponents from the center.
Walter Bwalya had a clear chance to open the score when he met Ashraf’s cross but the ball went over the bar.
In the 33rd minute, Al Ahly had a double-chance to score as Amr El Soulia’s shot was cleared over the line and returned to the box to reach Bwalya, whose shot hit the post.
Vita Club’s Opener
The visitors opened the score four minutes before half-time from a quick counter-attack as Glody Lilepo followed the ball after Mohamed El Shenawy’s save.
Second Half
Al Ahly kept creating chances to equalize the score and Bwalya had two clear chances but he failed to find the target. Moreover, Hussein El Shahaat had another chance but his shot was saved by the opponent’s goalkeeper.
In the 55th minute, our head coach Pitso Mosimane used his bench as Mohamed Sherif and Taher Mohamed Taher joined the game instead of Bwalya and El Shahaat in order to boost our attacking force.
Sherif was close to equalizing the score as he received a wonderful cross from Taher but the opponent’s defense cleared the ball.
Another chance was missed when Badr Benoun’s header was saved by Vita’s goalkeeper while Hany’s shot missed the target.
Two Goals in Two Minutes
Sherif managed to equalize the score as he followed Ajayi’s shot which was deflected from the post to find Sherif who put the ball in the back of the net.
Mosimane made another substitution with Marwan Mohsen coming on to replace Aliou Dieng.
From his first touch, Mohsen met Afsha’s pass to add the second goal for the Red Eagles.
Controversial Penalty
The game’s referee Rédouane Jiyed awarded a controversial penalty to AS Vita Club’s striker. VAR was much-needed to review the penalty as replays showed that our midfielder Amr El Soulia did not touch the striker.
Al Ahly pushed forward to score the winning goal but we failed to break their defense in the remaining minutes and the game ended in a 2-2 draw.
Mini Match:
Venue: Cairo International Stadium
Referee: Rédouane Jiyed
Al Ahly’s Starting Line-up: (Mohamed El Shenawy - Mahmoud Wahid - Ayman Ashraf - Badr Benoun - Mohamed Hany - Hussien El Shahaat - Aliou Dieng - Afsha - Juniro Ajayi - Walter Bwalya)
Subs: (Ali Lotfy – Ahmed Ramadan Beckham – Marwan Mohsen – Mohamed Sherif – Yasser Ibrahim – Hamdy Fathy – Taher Mohamed Taher).
Substitutions:
Mahmoud Wahid (Yasser Ibrahim)
Hussien El Shahaat (Mohamed Sherif)
Walter Bwalya (Taher Mohamed Taher)
Aliou Dieng (Marwan Mohsen)
Goals:
41’ Glody Makabi (AS Vita Club)
69’ Mohamed Sherif
71’ Marwan Mohsen
80’ Ricky Tulengi (AS Vita Club)
Yellow Cards:
Marwan Mohsen
Simon Omossola
Glody Makabi Lilep
