July 18 – Egyptian powerhouses Al Ahly retained their African crown to win a record 10th Champions League after a commanding 3-0 victory against 10-men Kaizer Chiefs from South Africa in the final.
Although Al Ahly enjoyed all the possession, the Egyptians didn’t register a single shot on target before the break as they struggled to breakdown a well-organised Kaizer Chiefs. Even so the match turned on the stroke of half-time when Happy Mashiane was sent off for a reckless challenge.
Al Ahly never looked back and breezed past their opponents, even finishing the match in pedestrian fashion after having scored three wonderful goals in an authoritative second-half performance. Mohamed Sherif opened the scoring before Magdi Afsha netted a second, again in state-of-the-art fashion, curling the ball into the top right corner. Sherif then rolled the ball into the path of Amr El-Sulaya for another marvelous strike. Al Ahly, it seemed, simply didn’t want to score ugly goals.
In their maiden their maiden Champions League final, there was no coming back for the South Africans, who simply were not good enough and didn’t display enough endeavor. The Soweto club lacked pedigree and experience as well.
Reflecting on the final, Al Ahly’s South African coach Pitso Mosimane said that his team showed they wanted it more.
“We really needed this trophy, the team from my country also wanted their first star but we wanted it more than them, the tenth one was important,” said Mosimane.
“It’s good for the history. It’s good for our archives and how better to do it than with three goals. Yes, I understand there was a red card, but it’s part of football, you should not be reckless if you play the cup final, you shouldn’t be too emotional, this happens in football.”
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