Sunday July 23, 1500 GMT
Hearts Of Oak (Ghana) - Al Ahly (Egypt)
2:1
Before the match
A most important match for
Hearts Of Oak. Although with a lot of young talents in the sqaud, during
the last years they have built a strong team which dominates Ghana soccer
at the moment. It is their third attempt to win the crown of African football
and they will have gained experience here.
Last year both teams were
in the same group, too, and both won their home match. Hearts Of Oak eventually
failed to win the group because of losing the away games. Al Ahly finished
secobnd because of losing at home against eventual winners Raja Casablanca
in an unlucky one.
From the psychological point
of view there is some particular advantage for Al Ahly: Losing this match
will not decide the outcome of the group - it will probably be decided
in the away matches at Lobi Stars and Jeanne d'Arc. Winning this match
would give an enormous advantage to the Egyptian side for the rest of the
matches.
Hearts: #16 Eben Dida
Armah, #6 Mireku Amamkwah, #5 Jacob Nettey (c), #2 Justice Ampah, #17 Stephen
Tetteh, #14 Joe Ansah, #7 Kenneth Sarpong, #12 Charles, Allotey, #18 Emmanuel
Donkoh, #3 James Zongo, #10 Emmanuel Adjogu
Al Ahly: #1 Essam
El Hadary, #12 Hussein Shokri, #4 Ibrahim Sayed, #7 Hady Kashaba, #2 Hossam
Ganly, #8 Heham Hanafi, #3 Saeed Abdel Aziz, #6 Said Abdel Hafiz, #10 Walid
Salah (c), #13 Mohamed Gouda, #17 Alaa Ibrahim
1st half
-Al Ahly in red shirts,
white shorts, red stockings. Hearts Of Oak in a left half blue, right half
white shirt with one red and one yellow arm, blue/lilac shorts and blue
stockings. Hearts Of Oak begins attacking right away
-('2) Al Ahly captain Walid
falls inside the penalty area - referee says playacting and gives him the
yellow card.
-('6) free kick from the
left side for Al Ahly. Istead of the expected cross comes a low pass into
the back field and a dangerous shot from 22 meters by an unmarked player
which goes wide.
-(''8) After a through ball
into attack the Egyptian keeper has to react for the first time against
an eventually harmless shot from half right
-('12) Hearts Of Oak make
an early substitution: #9 in for #12
-('14) A diagonal distance
shot means no problem for the Egyptian keeper
-('16) Hearts Of Oak: biggest
scene yet: a sequence of headers after a corner throws the Egyptian defence
into confusion. The final header towards the goal misses narrowly wide
right with the goalkeeper beaten.
-('18) Hearts Of Oak: free
kick from most dangerous position, 17 meters, central, but the shot sails
wide
-('19) Hearts Of Oak: counter
attack with a player running alone towards the keeper who can keep his
attempt away from the goal
-('25) The Egyptian keeper
makes a mistake in preventing the ball from going out, loses the ball and
Hearts Of Oak have another opportunity but the chip sails across the bar
-('26)('27) more half chances
for Hearts Of Oak
After Al Ahly looked
sharp in the beginning Hearts Of oak dominate the match, playing a very
good match yet. Al Ahly make the mistake of half hearted pressure attempts
against the Ghanaian build up what leaves their opponents space to comnbinate.
--('31) Al Ahly: the
art of defending and shocking the opponent by a set play situation: a free
kick from the right hand side and a header by Allaa Ibrahim? from 9 meters
beats the keeper - 0:1
-('35) The goal has boosted
the Egyptian confidence but a counter attack against a poorly positioned
defence fails because of an inaccurate cross
-('36) Hearts Of oak: dangerous
situation after a corner again
-('37) Hearts Of oak using
wing play a lot, especially the right hand side, and create another good
looking opportunity
Hearts Of Oak has overcome
the the shock and attacks again but somites look odd against counter attacks:
-('40) three Egyptians waste
an opportunity against two defenders
-('41) another good attack
by Hearts Of Oak, taking apart the defence by using first the right then
the left wing, the eventual header goes narrowly wide
-('42) one out of a number
of about five offsides stops a promising Hearts Of oak attack
-('45) a second substition
for Hearts Of oak (#13 Ali Kwame for #3 for James Zogho)
Halftime 0:1
Hearts Of Oak dominated
the first half with well constructed attacks but without scoring. Their
defence looked vulnurable against the few Egyptian attacks. Al Ahly did
not impress and still did enough to lead.
2nd half
-('46) Al Ahly seem to have
substituted a player
Despite superiority in
midfield Hearts Of Oak has problems in continuing with constructing promising
attacks. So no goal scenes take place in the first minutes of the half
-('54) Another set play
brings another turn of events: A free kick from the right wing and the
player, instead of a smooth cross unleashes a sharp diagonal shot into
the crowd in front of the goal: An Egyptian defender deflects the ball
into the corner of the net - 1:1
-('60) Al Ahly: Isaac Awal
comes in for Mohamed Gouda
-('61) Hearts Of Oak, more
good opportunities against an at the momentconfused Egyptian defence
-('62) the Egyptian keeper
deflect a free kick across the bar
-('68) Hearts Of oak: dangerous
counter attack and a good save by the Egyptian keeper against a short range
header, a second shot ails wide
Al Ahly seem too far
drawn back with a sole striker left alone at counter attacks. Instead of
trying to profit from some weaknesses of the Hearts defence they dimantled
in the first half, the Egyptians seem to be relying on their ability to
defend the scoreline. They have already payed once for this attitude.
-('75) Hearts Of Oak penetrate
into the danger zone a couple of times but the Egyptian defenders have
the last word inside their penalty area in the recent situations
-('78) The Ghanaian keeper
juggles the ball and scares his defenders after an Egyptian corner.
-('79) Hearts Of Oak bring
in #4 for #7
-('84) Hearts Of Oak: most
dangerous header opportunity after a cross from the right hand side, but
the ball goes wide left
-('87) Al Ahly: a sudden
two agianst two counter opportunity but the eventual shot goes narrowly
wide left - this should have been a goal
-('88) Al Ahly: #15 Ali
Mahir for #7(#17?)
-('injury time) The bill
for Al Ahly passivity: The lucky late decider for Hearts Of Oak: A shot
from half right 10 meters distance by #18 Donkoh after a defended ball
had been played back into the penalty area by aunmarked player luring about
20 meters in front of the goal - 2:1
Final result 2:1
A really good match in first
half - the second with a little less quality. Al Ahly did not try to win
the match - and so lost it. Thus they have wasted a big opportunity to
predecide the course of the race in a group which now remains open. Possible
away wins appear to become the decider in this group.
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