African Champions League Final

The African Champions League Final is upon us!

The first leg of the biggest continental competition in Africa takes place this Saturday, with Tunisia's Etoile du Sahel challenging defending champions Al Ahly of Egypt.

Let the battle begin!

Etoile coach Bertrand Marchand called Ahly a 'lucky' team ahead of Saturday's clash.

The two sides meet in Sousse and the Tunisians are keen to avenge defeat in the 2005 final, which Ahly won on a 3-0 aggregate.

"Ahly depend too much on luck and experience and will need more than that when facing us," Marchand said.

"The key Ahly players are midfielder Mohamed Aboutraika and striker Emad Moteab and if we stop them, they will be easily contained and we can definitely claim the trophy."

Marchand considers Al-Hilal, the Sudanese club Etoile defeated 4-3 in a two-leg semi-final thriller, a much better team than the Egyptians, who relied on an own goal to edge Al-Ittihad of Libya at the same stage.

"I watched Ahly against Ittihad and they suffered to succeed. Hilal are much better than the Egyptians," he revealed. Talk about fanning the flames ...

Aware that Etoile flopped against Ahly two years ago using overly cautious tactics home and away, Marchand vowed to unleash a three-man strike force against their opponents, who are chasing a record third consecutive Champions League title.

His likely choices are Tunisian Amine Chermiti, leading Etoile scorer in the competition this year with seven goals, three-goal Cape Verdian Gilson 'Ja' Silva and Ghanaian mid-year signing Sadat Bukari.

All are young, quick and slick, and capable of troubling an Ahly defense long on experience but short on pace when brutally exposed 3-0 away to Hilal in the mini-league phase.

"Winning the African Champions League would be a dream," Chermiti said.

"We have a solid squad and wonderful supporters and I cannot accept failure again after losing two of the previous three finals."

Etoile were pipped on penalties by Enyimba of Nigeria in the 2004 decider.

The club from the Mediterranean resort of Sousse have won every Confederation of African Football (CAF) competition except the Champions League.

They also want to end a losing streak by Tunisia in the showcase of African club football as CS Sfaxien had victory snatched from their grasp last year when Aboutraika struck a stoppage-time winner in Tunis.

Good luck to both squads and may the best team win!

Al Ahly-Etoile in African Final

Congratulations to Al Ahly of Egypt and Etoile du Sahel of Tunisia, who both advanced to the African Champions League final this weekend.

Etoile were the first to advance on Saturday, 3-1 over Sudan's Al Hilal.

The Sudanese won the first leg in Omdurman 2-1, meaning Etoile needed only a 1-0 home victory on Saturday to go through, thanks to their away goal.

Amine Chermiti put the Tunisians on the road to the final with the first of two headers after 13 minutes.

And the score remained 1-0 throughout the rest of the first half.

Early in the second half, though, there was a flurry of goals.

Saber Ben Frej got the better of a goal mouth scramble to put Etoile 2-0 up on the night.

But three minutes later, Hilal's Nigerian striker Ndubuisi Ezei got one back for the visitors, to make it 2-1 in Sousse, and level at 3-all on aggregate.

It was his eighth goal of the Champions League campaign.

The prospect of extra time loomed.

Not for long though, as Chermiti struck his second of the night on 63 minutes to take Etoile 3-1 ahead on the night, up 4-3 on aggregate.

But Hilal only needed to level the match with a second away goal to go through, and as the clock ran down they pressed and pressed.

A sequence of free kicks from just outside the Etoile area peppered the home side's goal.

But the Tunisians held on and they go through to their fifth consecutive continental final, and their third Champions League final in four years.

Over to Al Ahly, who edged past Al Ittihad 1-0 in Cairo on Sunday to reach the final.

The Egyptian club will now be looking to win their third consecutive title after they qualified for the final 1-0 on aggregate, after the two sides drew 0-0 in Libya two weeks ago.

The only goal of the game came after 20 minutes when Hilal's Hesham Shaban headed into his own net as he tried to clear a cross from Angola's Gilberto.

The final is a repeat of 2005 final that Ahly eventually won 3-0 on aggregate.

The first leg of the final will be played in Sousse in Tunisia on the weekend of October 26-28 and the second leg two weeks later in Cairo.

Good luck to both squads!

African Champions League Semifinals

It's here. The biggest continental competition in Africa celebrates its semifinals round, one more game to go before the grand final.

Saturday's African Champions League semifinal between Etoile du Sahel of Tunisia and Sudan's Al Hilal will produce a landmark result - whatever the outcome.

If Etoile can overcome their 2-1 deficit from the first leg in Omdurman, they will be in their fifth consecutive continental final. They won last year's Confederation Cup and they were beaten finalists in the Champions League in 2004 and 2005. In 2003 they took the now defunct African Cup Winners Cup.

If Hilal win, they would cap a remarkable year for Sudanese football.

The national side has reached the Nations Cup finals for the first time in three decades, and Hilal's club rivals Al Merreikh have all but secured a place in the final of the Confederation Cup.

Etoile feel good going in. They scored an away goal in Sudan. A 1-0 victory at home sends them to the Final.

"The first leg puts all the pressure on the Sudanese," striker Gilson Silva told BBC Fast Track on Thursday.

"They will be compelled to score at least once, as we did ourselves."

"They know that staying in defense will be catastrophic for them."

Etoile had a disappointing build-up to the game, with a 1-1 draw by US Monastir in the Tunisian league last week, but they are boosted by the return of defenders Mehdi Merieh and Saber Fradj.

The pair missed the first leg because of injury.

Hilal have amassed an impressive array of wins over the course of this Champions League campaign.

They have thrown off ASEC Mimosas of Ivory Coast, Esperance of Tunisia and Zamalek of Egypt, among others. Not too shabby.

Also, they will welcome back their key midfielder Rtshard Justin Lado for the game. Sounds like an enticing contest.

Over in the other semi-final, defending champions Al Ahly need a goal to get through on Sunday.

After squeezing out a 0-0 result in Tripoli a fortnight ago against surprise semifinalists Al Ittihad of Libya, the champions will look for the death blow away.

The 'Red Devils' will be highly dissappointed should they underrate the Libyans, who have been in superb form in their maiden campaign at this stage of the competition.

The aggregated winners advance to a two-legged Champions League final.

The first leg will be played in either Sudan or Tunisia on the weekend of October 26-28th with the return match in Egypt or Libya on the weekend of November 9-11.

I hope I can watch them here in the States.

Al Hilal Start African CL Semis With 2-1 Win

A quick update on the African Champions League first leg semifinal between Al Hilal of Sudan and Tunisia's Etoile Sahel from our friends at Reuters.

Nigerian pair Ndubuisi Eze and Kelechi Osunwa handed Al Hilal of Sudan a 2-1 home win over Tunisia's Etoile Sahel in their African Champions League semi-final first leg on Friday.

Eze struck his seventh goal of the competition in the 61st minute before the unmarked Osunwa headed in a cross from Al Hilal's third Nigerian import, Yusuf Mohamed, five minutes later.

Etoile, trying to reach their fifth African club competition final in as many years, had taken a first-half lead after a poor clearance from Hamuda Bashir allowed defender Radhouene Felhi to score from close range.

A 1-0 win in the return leg next month would take Etoile through on away goals.

On Sunday, Al Ittihad of Libya host holders Al Ahli of Egypt in their semi-final first leg.

Al Ahly Scrapes Towards History

The biggest club competition in African football continues this weekend with the first legs of the semifinals of the African Champions League.

First off, Al Ittihad of Libya take on defending champions Al Ahly from neighboring Egypt in Tripoli on Sunday. The Libyans have already upset the script by reaching the final four in their first year of participation in the group phase since the format of Africa's top club competition was changed 11 years ago.

Al Ahly are seeking to set new standards for the continent's annual club competitions.

No club has won the Champions League three times in a row.

Ahly are chasing the distinction this year and, at the same time, hoping to win Africa's top club title for a record-breaking sixth time.

The Egyptians have had a tough week of preparation with a derby match against arch rivals Zamalek on Monday, which they won with a first-half goal from Mohamed Aboutrika.

The other semi-final sees Al Hilal of Sudan vs. Etoile du Sahel of Tunisia.

The semi-final second legs will be played on the weekend of October 5th.