Only bright spot
Ismaili's away tie was the sole good news for Egypt in African football championships this week, writes Nashwa Abdel-Tawab
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It was all equal in the African Cup Winners Cup quarter-final between Mahalla and Julius Berger
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Ismaili gained another valuable away point when they drew with Simba of Tanzania in the African Champions League in Dar es Salaam on Sunday.
Surprise packets Simba, who shocked Santos of South Africa and defending champions Zamalek of Egypt to reach the mini-league phase, could not recapture the form that earned a 1-0 win over ASEC of Ivory Coast two weeks ago.
And the sole similarity between the Ismailia side that overwhelmed Enyimba of Nigeria 6-1 at home and the one that held Simba was their blue and yellow Brazil-style strip.
The setting was perfect with a capacity 20,000 crowd at the National Stadium in the Indian Ocean city and a slight wind cooling the heat from a clear, early afternoon sky.
Tanzanian Ulimboka Mwakingwe brought the crowd alive after 15 minutes, pushing forward as the North Africans retreated before unleashing a low shot that flew just off target.
Teammate Ramadan Wasso suffered a facial injury from an unintentional flying elbow during an aerial duel soon after and had to retire with Edward Lubigisa taking his place.
After failing to force a corner for 59 minutes, Simba were awarded two within 60 seconds, but neither threatened an Ismailia defence that was comfortably containing their red-shirt rivals.
The ball flew over the Ismailia bar after a frantic goalmouth scramble and that signalled the end of hostilities with the teams settling for a draw long before the final whistle brought relief to the suffering spectators.
"We did come here to attack and to take all three points but Simba were a very physical side and did not let us play our normal passing game," said Ismailia coach Theo Bucker. "But we're on course for the semi-finals, so we cannot be disappointed."
One side that is definitely blue are the red shirts of Egypt, Ahli. In the Federations Cup, Nigeria's Rangers International staked a claim to a semi- final berth after a 4-0 trouncing of Ahli at the Nnamdi Azikiwe stadium in Enugu. The loss came as a huge blow to Ahli, voted the best African football club of the 20th century. It was their worst defeat since they first participated in African competitions in 1976.
The loss also placed a big question mark atop the head of new Portuguese coach Tony Oliviera. Although a second-leg match awaits in Cairo, Ahli's chances of advancing in the competition, one which no Egyptian club has ever won, appear slim. Newspaper reports say the club is seriously considering imposing hefty fines on the players after they return from Nigeria.
In the CAf Cup Winners Cup quarter-final match in Mahalla, Baladiyet Al-Mahalla of Egypt were forced to settle for just one point following a 1- 1 draw with Nigerian Julius Berger. Julius Berger need no more than a scoreless draw in Nigeria to advance to the semi-finals.
Mahalla do not appear they will be able to get by Julius Berger in the second leg but have gotten further in the tournament than most people expected.
Mahalla took the lead in the 56th minute from an Ayman Mashali penalty. Julius Berger netted the equaliser on 87 minutes.
