Bahrain were held to a frustrating goaless in the National Stadium at Manama with the home side dominant through out.
The Saudi goal keeper, Waleed Adbullah, produced a man of the match performance to keep Bahrain out and give the Saudi’s hope going back to Riyadh in mid week. A deflected shot eventually beat the keeper, but the woodwork acted as the last line of defence. The lack of goals did not translate into a dreary affair, and Bahrain took the game to the Saudi’s and were much the better side. The Saudi’s only threat came from Al Qahtani, but a failed penalty appeal was the limited of his threat.
Bahrain must come away from this match smarting at not pressing home their advantage, and one must fear that this will come back and haunt them in Riyadh on Wednesday. The Saudi’s will be relieved to have passed this test, if only just. They must now start as favourites for the next leg and to face New Zealand in the final play off to reach World Cup 2010. However, going against popular opinion Bahrain have shown they can unsettle the Saudi’s but surely repeating the same feats away from home is too much?
Ghana became the first African team to qualify for World Cup 2010 with a 2-0 defeat of Sudan. Ghana stars Sulley Muntari and Michael Essien scored the goals that handed Sudan their third loss in Group D and makes them odds on to finish bottom of the group and to miss out on Angola 2010 qualification.
Ghana, with 4 wins from 4 matches sit on 12 points, 7 points ahead of Mali with two matches to play. The group is all but over, especially with Sudan cut adrift by 3 points at the bottom.
Oussama Darragi grabbed a vital equalising goal late in to the game with Nigeria to hand Tunisia a commanding first place in Group B. They are now 2 points above Nigeria with two matches to play.
The home side took their home advantage from the start in highly charged atmosphere at the Abuja National Stadium. Nigerian hopes were raised on 23 minutes when Osaze Odemwingie ghosted past two players to fire the ball into the roof of the Tunisian net from just inside the box. However, not two minutes later the visitors drew level with Sliti Nabil firing a thunder bolt from outside the area into the Nigerian net.
Taider scores Tunisia's first
The second half was an even affair and was very open from the start. Both teams found joy on the counter attack and both matched each other for chances, but it was Nigeria who got the breakthrough on 80 minutes. Good work from Mikel on the edge of the box released Nsofor on the byline who crossed for Eneramo to hit home.
Nigeria looked to be leap frogging Tunisia to the top of the table, enter Oussama Darragi who pulled Nigeria’s legs from under them. Having found space in the box he calmly waited for the keeper to make his move before guiding the ball over the keeper and into the roof of the net. As Darragi and his team mates celebrated missiles fro the home crowd rained down on them and the officials had to usher them away from the corner flag area.
Tunisia showed how far they have come in recent months and put up a great performance in a hostile environment. This was a performance by deserved group leaders and having secured a draw away from home to their biggest rivals they have World Cup qualification firmly in their own hands. They are now 2 points ahead of Nigeria, with Kenya at home on the 10th October and Mozambique away on the 14th November.
Substitute Adel Taarabat’s injury time goal rescued a point for a lackluster Moroccan side in Lome. After conceding a 4th minute goal scored by Togo’s Moustapha Salifou Morocco looked to be cruising to their second defeat in four qualifying matches.
Morocco wen into this tie bottom of Group A in the Africa qualifying section with 2 points from two draws and one defeat. It looked like it would be a second defeat from the 4th minute onwards. Although Morocco had a large amount of possession they failed to do anything with it in the second half. Much like Egypt’s performance a day earlier they were toothless up front. The much talked about Chamakh failed to live up to his blistering start in Ligue 1 and was largely anonymous.
The game was saved in the third minute of injury time when Taarabat got the ball on the far side of the penalty area, silkily made his way to the byline and fired the ball into the roof of the net from an acute angle. This was a flash of brilliance the Moroccans had done their best to convince would not happen.
Although a point was gained from jaws of defeat it fails to propel Morocco further up Group A. They still sit bottom of the group 3 points off leaders Gabon who have a game in hand. World Cup qualification is surely gone, and qualification for the 2010 African Nations Cup also looks in danger of passing the Atlas Lions by, With the top 3 in a 4 team group to qualify for Angola 2010, it looks like Morocco have a fight on their hands.
Egypt laboured to an unconvincing 1-0 win against last Group C’s last placed Rwanda in Kigali.
The Pharaohs were missing a number of their top players including Zaki, Mido and Zidan. A further set back occurred when star man Abou-Trika was injured in the warm up and was dropped to the bench.
Despite being given permission by Egypt’s Grand Mufto Ali Gomaa to break fasting for the game the Egyptian players refused.
These conditions obviously did not help the Egyptians and without any of their top strikers they lacked a cutting edge in the first half, it seemed they were content to bore the opposition into a mistake.
The side Egypt had beaten 3-0 before the summer break stood strong, although admittedly they were not asked too many difficult questions by the visitors. In the end it was a rather scrappy goal mouth scramble that the Pharaohs profited from and were thankful for their veteran captain Ahmed Hassan who put the chance away.
The victory kept alive Egypt’s slim chances of World Cup qualification alive. The crunch match will now take place on the 14th November when Egypt take on Algeria at home, that’s if they can find some form away from home to beat Zambia on the 10th October.
Hibernian’s out of favour Moroccan striker Abessalam Benjelloun’s future seems to be in the balance after his proposed transfer to Egyptian side Al Ahly fell through.
It was widely reported last week that Al Ahly had agreed a €500,000 fee with Hibernian for the 24 year old, but yesterday board member Khaled Mortagey stated the deal was dead. Mortagey stated, “We have a young Algerian player called Amir Sayoud and we consider him the young Messi. From a technical point of view, Sayoud is much better for the team. It has nothing to do with Benjelloun, he’s a great player.”
Last week pictures were posted on the official Al Ahly website which showed Benji signing what everyone thought were contracts. However, it now appears that no official agreement had been put in place and no contracts were signed.
It was believed that Benji would be Al Ahly’s third foreign signing of the closed season, adding to the signings of Angolan Gilberto and Liberian Francis Doe, with Amir Sayound going out on loan for the season. It now appears Al Ahly cite Sayoud as a more important signing for the upcoming season than Benji and his summer transfer limbo goes on.
Benji, who has a year left on his current Hibernian contract, spent last season out on loan at Belgium clubs Charleroi and Roeselare scoring 7 goals in 22 league appearances. He failed to make an impression in Belgium and enjoyed a largely disappointing season. Further to this he failed to turn up for pre season training with the Edinburgh club citing passport and visa difficulties. After this latest set back to Benji’s career it looks like it has stalled once again. The Hibernian support are well and truly against Benji’s return to the team seeing him as a destructive and negative dressing influence if message boards are to be believed.
With a new manager at the helm in John Hughes, there is still some hope for Benji. Hughes has stated previously that a clean slate can drawn and past misdemeanors forgotten if out of favour players show the desire and hunger for the Hibernian shirt. Hopefully Benji and Hibernian can rediscover their lost mutual admiration of each other as this is a club that can help him unlock his potential as one of Africa’s top strikers. However, with the terrace support clambering for his sale it looks unlikely.
Sayoud on the other hand has already started his Al Ahly career in blistering form. A good showing in a friendly against Arab Contractors (see highlights below) has hinted at the potential he possesses and a flair that will surely set the Egyptian league a light for the new season. Little is known of the 17 year old, although he has previously played for ES Setif in Algeria and Ahli Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Could he be the new star of Al Ahly, and the catalyst for a further surge in Algeria’s continuing improvement?
Good evening football fans. First up an apology for the lack of blogging for the past month. Holidays took their toll on the frequency of updates meaning that some key stories were missed! Iraq play at home for the first time in years and win against Palestine – who were of equal importance allowed by Israel to travel to compete; Iran cancelled the passports of those players that protested the countries election results unofficially retiring them from football; and finally Moroccan international Merouane Zemmama returned to pre-season training with Hibernian of the Scottish premier league to reassert himself in European following a short spell in UAE to be with his pregnant wife. Not to mention Chamakh’s continued on off move to the Premier League!
Al Ahly celebrate at Wembley where they played against Celtic and Barcelona
Much bigger news however is that this weekend Egyptian and African champions Al Ahly travelled to London to take part in the Wembley Cup. The competition consisted of 4 teams with each playing two games each. The contenders were Al Ahly, European Champions Barcelona, Premier League Hopefuls Tottenham Hotspur and Scottish giants Glasgow Celtic. Al Ahly faced Celtic and Barcelona in their draw. This was a game i could see them winning. Celtic are a team under new management and juggling European competition in the next couple of days so I was hoping this would play into Al Ahly’s hands. My optimism was misplaced – Celtic ran out comfortable 5-0 winners (highlights below).
Al Ahly vs Celtic highights
Al Ahly would need to step it up for their next game against European Champions Barcelona. Luckily we had front row tickets to Wembley to watch the game unfold. Al Ahly fielded a strong line up including their legendary attacking midfielder Abou Treika who it seemed everyone in the stadium had come to see judging by the cheer when his name was announced. Barcelona fielded a youth team with the exception of Eric Abidal, Lionel Messi was relegated to the bench. Could this be an advantage for the Red Devils?
The game started with Barcelona predictably on top despite the youth in their team. On the ten minute mark Bojan Krkic worked an inch of space on the right of the box and beat Abdel Hameed Hassan across his body. Without being too harsh on him, the keeper looked at fault.
The expectation now was for Barcelona to grow in confidence and exert their influence to dominate the game.
But the goal riled Al Ahly. It was as if they felt the wind in their sails. Gradually they began to not only win more possession but use it well! The right of midfield enforced by Eno and Ashour became more dynamic and Abou Trieka found himself being able to manipulate space between the Barcelona defence and midfield to work his magic. The biggest difference of all however was Al Ahlys right back, the number 15 Ali, who stormed up and down the right flank with fiery purpose. It was his energetic runs and confidence on the ball that made Al Ahly more dangerous.
Abou Treika patrols the Barcelona backline
On around the 20 minute mark Fathi broke forward and whipped a delightful ball into the box with pin point accuracy to find the advanced Abou Treika but all he could do was head the ball into the keepers body when anywhere else would surely have reaped a goal. Next, Ali drove a ferocious strike from range which whipped across goal and wide of the left post. This was a much better Al Ahly now and the young Catalans looked more and more frustrated failing to make any possession they won tell. And it would cost them. With a counter attacking move Ali ghosted by two players, including French left back Eric Abidal, before threading the perfect ball through the offside trap for Hany El Agazy to race clear, round the keeper and slot into an empty net. The Al Ahly fans went wild, ourselves included. Game on!
For the next 10 minutes they created a couple of good chances – another shot from range by Ali, then Hany El Agazy once again broke free and rounded the keeper only to put his effort wide from a tighter angle, though the linesman had flagged for offside. Cruelly, with only minutes till half time a wonder strike from Barcelona flew into the top corner from 30 yards ensuring the Catalans ended the half ahead.
Al Ahly goalkeeper Hameed lies unconcious before us
The second half saw no Al Ahly substitutes join first half substitute Ahmed Hassan on the sidelines. Unfortunately for Al Ahly Barcelona changed their whole team bringing on a range of first team players including world superstar Lionel Messi and midfield giant Yaya Toure. Barcelona regained control of the match with a reasonably early goal after half time in which Messi had a role. Unluckily, Al Ahly goalkeeper Hameed was concussed in the build up to the goal and was replaced by youth keeper Ahmed Adel. While he was beaten too easily for the fourth Barcelona goal the youngster impressed with some solid sweeper play and a great one on one save to deny Barca a fifth. With a minute to go Abou Treika was substituted to allow him a standing ovation from the Al Ahly faithful. While he was not able to walk past the fans he did give them a clap and wave from the dugout once off the pitch.
This opitomised the second half. While there was not much to cheer on the pitch the Al Ahly fans excelled off it. During the second half a drum was found, and within minutes it seemed all the fans had gathered in the one section of the stadium, chanting and drumming the game to its end. It was a fantastic atmosphere and a performance that while might be forgotten on the pitch, won’t be forgotten off it.
At 1.23 into the highlights you can see our hands jumping in celebration!
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