18 - 24 October 2001
Issue No.556
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 18 - 24 October 2001 Issue No.556 |
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Time out
The stuff of legends?
History was made the other day in Cairo Stadium. In one of the biggest upsets in the 27-year history of the African Champions League, Petro Atletico of Angola became the first club to score more than twice against Ahli in the Egyptian capital. To be exact, Petro built a four-goal lead before some careless defending, and a slight Ahli rebound for pride's sake, allowed the Egyptians to score twice.
Despite its entry into the record books, the 4-2 drubbing should not be Ahli's end of the world. Being thumped in a football match is as routine as a change of socks and being shelled at home is certainly a non- revelation. Petro, for example, slumped 3-1 at home to Ahli in the opening round of the tournament two months ago. What should seriously concern Ahli, though, is that the loss could be the start of a slide that the club will be unable to reverse.
The cornerstone of this team is no longer seasoned veterans. Retirements and transfers have stripped Ahli of its legendary names and forced it to depend on young, up-and-coming players with lots of enthusiasm but short on pitch experience and savvy. These very rookies beat Spanish giants Real Madrid in a friendly in Cairo in the summer and got the squad and its new Portuguese coach, Manual Jose, to a flying start in the African championship with consecutive wins against Petro and Algeria's Chabab Belouizdad .
But it was perhaps these early victories that contributed to a sense of complacency that has seen a dramatic free fall. In the home league, Ahli currently is an unaccustomed 7th place after losing the opener against lowly Ghazl El-Suez and barely squeaking by Ittihad, another squad of meagre talent.
And in Africa, the loss to Petro cast serious doubts on Ahli's ability to win this most prestigious of Pan- African club competitions a third time after successes in 1982 and 1987.
Ahli still has a decent chance of qualifying for the semi-finals of the event. With nine points, it is two ahead of Ivory Coast club ASEC. Each has a game left but Ahli appears to be better placed considering it will face Chabab which is not in contention and which was drubbed 7-0 earlier this month by ASEC.
But even if Ahli reaches the semi-finals it will have its hands full against another North African giant, Esperance of Tunisia, which is virtually unbeatable in its forbidding Al-Menzah Stadium with its large, vociferous supporters.
Still, one loss, no matter how cataclysmic -- this particular defeat of Ahli was only the second home loss for the club in 46 Champions League matches -- should not make or break a team. The real acid test is what comes next.
This new generation of Ahli players is being asked to carry the torch of the club's former famed names -- and not fall flat on their face in the process. It's not easy considering the club's stature as Africa's best team of the 20th century and Egypt's most successful club. Ahli supporters run in the millions and they demand nothing less than victory every outing. This is a heavy burden for any journeyman player and a load, not unlike a ton of bricks, for youngsters barely into their 20's
Ahli got the stuffing knocked out of it; the future will show whether this team is really the stuff of legends.
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