Al Ahly remain in the chase for a CAF Champions League quarterfinal spot following their 4-0 Group B drubbing of Cameroon’s Coton Sport on Friday in Garoua. Kahraba scored a hat trick while Percy Tau provided a goal and two assists for the Egyptian giants, who move to within three points of group leaders Mamelodi Sundowns and within two of second placed Al-Hilal Omdurman. To remain in contention for the knockout stages, Ahly now need Sundowns to earn a draw or victory on Saturday when Al-Hilal host the South African champions in Sudan.
Ahly head coach Marcel Koller made several changes to his eleven for the match after the heavy 5-2 defeat to Sundowns last week and one of them, Kahraba, made a massive difference. After some initial pressure, the Cairo club broke through in the 22nd minute when Mohamed Magdy “Afsha” found space on the right wing and his cross provided Kahraba with an easy finish at the far post. The forward doubled his tally six minutes later with another simple finish from a Tau cross after the South African forward ran onto a pass from Ahmed Abdelkader.
Soon after halftime Kahraba wrapped up his hat trick with a first time shot when a quick Ahly attack sliced through an overwhelmed Coton Sport defense and Tau rolled the ball into his path. Tau got on the score sheet himself three minutes later by running onto Amr El Solia’s pass on the right wing and cutting inside to shoot past Coton Sport goalkeeper Gadin Allambatnan. It was comprehensive victory for Ahly who made it look easy away from home against their Cameroonian opponents, who still have yet to register a point in Group B.
Video of the goals are below.
