AFRICAN CONFEDERATION CUP 2014 - FINALS - 1ST LEG - PREVIEW
AFRICAN CONFEDERATION CUP 2014
Seven-time African champions Al Ahly are aiming to restore some pride in Egyptian football as they face Ivorian side Sewe Sport in the Confederation Cup final.
The first leg of the final is in Abidjan On Saturday with the return match scheduled for a week later in Cairo.
The two sides met in the group stages of the tournament which ended in a 1:1 draw in Ivory Coast before Ahly won their home tie 1:0.
After decades of football success at national team and club levels, this year has largely been a tale of failures for Egyptian sides.
The Pharaohs created unwanted history by failing for a record third consecutive time to reach the Africa Cup of Nations finals, a competition they have won an unrivalled seven times.
Ahly had hopes of a record third straight African Champions League title dashed by Libyan namesakes Al-Ahly Benghazi in the final qualifying round for the group phase.
Fellow Cairo club Zamalek did make the mini-league stage only to fare disastrously, winning just one game out of six and finishing bottom of the table.
Neither Ismaili nor Wadi Degla, the original 2014 Confederation Cup entrants from the North African state, got beyond the qualifying stage.
However if they are to win in Abidjan they must do it without striker Amr Gamal, who scored the winner in the semi-final against Coton Sport of Cameroon.
He is Ahly's leading scorer in the competition this season with three goals buy misses the first leg with a thigh injury.
Also missing with injuries are regular goalkeeper Sherif Ekramyand talismanic striker Mohamed 'Gedo' Nagy, while Abdullah El Said, Sherif Abdel Fadeel and Mohamed Farouk will face late fitness tests.
Spaniard Juan Carlos Garrido is Ahly's third coach of the campaign and is hoping to win his first continental trophy with the club.
"It would be a great honour for me to win an African trophy in my first year with the team," Garrido said.
"I came to Ahly to win titles, and the Confederation Cup is an important one for us.
I know Ahly has never won the trophy and this is a great motivation for us to win it this year."
The ex-Villareal boss won his first trophy with Ahly by beating bitter rivals Zamalek on penalties to claim the Egyptian Super Cup in September.
"We have had many difficult circumstances throughout this competition," he explained.
"We have played all games with a depleted squad due to injuries, and also because many players left the club at the end of last season.
"Yet we managed to qualify for the final and right here we can never stop fighting, whatever the circumstances are."
Sewe Sport coach Rigo Gervais is well aware of the threat posed by Ahly.
"We have met in two games already during the group stages, offensively we must not let them play," he said.
"When you attack you need be able to defend and you need to score the opportunities you create.
"Al Ahly has many trophies but we would like to win this one to get ourselves into Africa History.
"It's up to us to fight, it's up to us go and win to trophy."