Bouncing back
Baladiet Al-Mehalla turned a 2-0 deficit around to win in one of three African football club championships. Abeer Anwar reviews the weekend thrillers
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Hilal proved a handful for Baladiet and could have pulled off an upset had the Egyptians lost their composure when they were down by two goals. In the event, Baladiet stormed back for an emphatic 4-2 win
(photo: Khaled El-Fiqi)
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Taken for dead in the African Cup Winners Cup, Baladiet Al-Mehalla came from 2-0 down to score four unanswered goals and top visitors Hilal of Sudan 4-2.
The win was part of round 16, first-leg matches in the three major African football events. Egypt is participating with four teams.
Hilal took the lead in the 18th minute through Haitham Mustafa from a free kick. Hilal, which are ahead in the Sudanese league by four points, and have seven players on the national team, made it 2-0 in the 32nd minute when Moataz Kebeer had nothing but net to shoot at.
Baladiet are playing in an African competition for the first time and is in serious danger of being relegated to the second division next year. Their inexperience and lack of star quality showed all too clearly in the first half.
But Usama Hamad put Baladiet on the scoresheet in injury time after heading over the keeper. In the second half, Mehalla added three more goals and hit the woodwork three times as well.
Aside from Mehalla's dramatic comeback, the game featured a clash of two Egyptian coaches, both former football greats in the 1970s: Mehalla's Farouk Gaafar and Moustafa Younis of Hilal.
Sudanese supporters who travelled to Mehalla with the team expressed their anger by hurling insults at Younis who later announced that he will resign and will refuse to return to Sudan with the team. "After all I did with the team in eight months, I can't continue in my job under such conditions."
There was more drama -- and Egyptian heroics -- in 28 March Stadium in Beni Ghazi, Libya, where Ahli beat Al-Nasr 2-1 in the CAF Cup despite playing with 10 men throughout the second half.
Ahli, which was hyped in the Libyan press as Africa's best football club of the century, opened the scoring in the 37th minute after Gilberto fired in a left-footer.
In the second, Al-Nasr drew through Ahmed Al-Ebeidi after Ahli were reduced to 10 men as Mohamed Gouda was shown the second yellow card of the day for dangerous tackling.
But Hossam Ghali replied with Ahli's second goal just two minutes later after taking a nifty back heel pass from Ahmed Bilal.
"This victory has a special taste as it gives the team a strong push before our final league match," Ahli coach Hossam El-Badri said, referring to the match against ENPPI which could give Ahli the title should they win. "We want to keep the title and this victory will make them more self-confident," El-Badri said.
Al-Nasr returned to the African scene after a long absence due to financial problems which were resolved after the Libyan president's son, Mohamed, bought the club.
Zamalek, defending champions in the Champions League, should have had no problems beating Tanzania's Simba even if the game was in Dar Al-Salam. Striker Hossam Hassan was back from injury although captain Hazem Imam was absent after picking up yet another knee injury in league action. In the end, Zamalek went down 1-0 through a goal by Emmanuel Gabriel in the 55th minute. Zamalek tried hard for the equaliser in the second but lacked the finishing touch. Still, the tenuous Simba lead should not be too hard for Zamalek to overtake in the second-leg match in Cairo.
In the same competition, Ismaili had better luck, edging Port Louis of Mauritius 1-0 away through Abdel-Rahman Trawri in the 52nd minute. Trawri scored the lone goal just minutes after collecting a yellow card.
