Al Ahly Coach Jubilant in Victory

Al Ahly coach Manuel Jose is beyond happy that his side won their record sixth African Champions League this weekend with a 2-2 draw against Cameroon side Coton Sport.

Their 2-0 win from the first leg in Cairo clinched the tie for them in the end, earning Ahly a 4-2 victory on aggregate and a third African title in four years.

"It's fantastic," Jose told BBC Sport.

"Now Ahly is the only club ever to win six Champions Leagues, and now we hope we're going to win the African Super Cup."

Ahly play the winners of the Confederation Cup in the African Super Cup in February.

In the meantime they face an even bigger challenge as they attempt to improve on their last showing at the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan.

The Egyptians travel to the tournament in December for the third time and will seek to better their bronze medal finish in 2006.

Still basking in Sunday's win, Jose also paid tribute to Coton Sport, after the Garoua team put up a strong fight over the two legs.

"Coton Sport made a very good match [of it]. In Cairo we had a fantastic match, and could have scored four or five goals, but didn't. So we came here, scored a lucky goal through Ahmed Hassan, then conceded a stupid goal. When they scored the second goal [my team] was scared about [conceding] a third goal, but I have very experienced players.

"So congratulations to Coton Sport but I think we deserved to win."

Coton Sport Alan Oumbleon paid tribute to his own team's efforts and said the experience of reaching their first final will make his players hungry for more success.

"It was wonderful to reach this final for my team, for my players, for the club and for the fans," he said.

"So now we know how wonderful it is, we want to reach this level every year."

He also conceded, however, that he will find it difficult to hold onto some of his best players after they attracted attention during their impressive march to the final.

"They deserve to go outside [Cameroon] because they have succeeded in playing very good football during this competition," he said.

Oumbleon also said his biggest challenge in the short term will be to try to motivate his players to return to playing in the Cameroonian national league.

From next weekend they will turn out in front of considerably smaller crowds than the estimated 20,000 at the Omnisport Stadium in Garoua on Sunday and the 70,000 at the Cairo International Stadium.

"It will be very difficult because they are used now to playing against great clubs in big stadiums with a lot of people and now we will play in a bad stadium, with a bad field.

"But our players will want to reach this level again."

MY POV: Hopefully the experience of playing in the Final will motivate fans to come out to watch Coton.

Besides that, can Ahly improve on their performance from a few year's back at the Club World Cup? They'll represent Africa just fine ...

Al Ahly Win 6th African Championship

Congratulations to Al Ahly, who won the 2008 African Champions League this morning, defeating Cameroon's Coton Sport 4-2 on aggregate, drawing 2-2 in today's match.

The victory gives Egypt's Ahly their record 6th title, the most of any club in African continental football.

Leading 2-0 from the first leg in Cairo a fortnight ago – where goals from Wael Gomaa and Flavio separated the teams – Manuel Jose’s side were always favorites to win their third Champions League crown in four years. But Ahly weathered a persistent 2nd-half storm from Coton to hold on to the game.

The Egyptians dealt Coton’s slim hopes of a comeback a grievous blow in the 38th minute when, on the counter, Ahmed Hassan flicked home a goal with the outside of his right foot following a short-corner routine between Gilberto and Mohamed Aboutrika.

The Egyptian’s goal stunned Coton and hushed the previously boisterous and optimistic home crowd.

However, Coton drew level on the stroke of half time when Karim Abdoul fired in a low shot from just inside the penalty area after great work from striker Kamilou Daouda.

Just past the hour mark Baba Ousmaila capitalised on the utter dominance of Coton and made it 2-1, heading into an empty net after a great set piece from the hosts.

But Ousmaila and Daouda were guilty of spurning several great chances for Coton, who could have won the game by a landslide and pulled off an almost miraculous comeback had they been more composed in front of goal.

Al Ahly skipper Shady Mohamed sealed the title for his side in the final minute of injury time, scoring from the penalty spot to make it 2-2 after Andre Ndame had pushed over Mohamed Barakat.

The Egyptians will go on to represent Africa at the FIFA Club World Cup at the end of the year.

Congratulations, Al Ahly! Enjoy your championship!

Al Ahly-Coton Sport 1st Leg Goals

For your viewing pleasure, Al Ahly's two goals against Coton Sport in the first leg of the African Champions League final last week.

The second leg is tomorrow ... should be a good one!! Enjoy!

African Champions League Winds Down

The eyes of the football world turn to Cameroon this weekend and Sunday's second leg of the African Champions League final between Egypt's Al Ahly and Cameroon's Coton Sport.

Ahly, five-time African champions, won the first leg in 2-0 in Egypt.

Now, Coton Sport will look to contain the Egyptian juggernaut at home.

Coton captain Ahmadou Ngomna wishes his side hadn't come into the first leg scared of their opposition.

The Cameroon side’s defense let in two early goals (3rd and 15th minute), but managed to hold off the Red Devils for the remainder of the match and still have a shot of claiming their first continental title.

"I think we gave Ahly too much respect, and it affected our start," Ngomna told Camfoot.com.

"After the first 30 minutes we started regaining our confidence and Ahly suffered enormously when we did."

Ngomna will not play in the second leg in Garoua on November 16 after picking up a yellow card and an automatic one-game suspension.

"I'm really gutted that I won't be available for the home game as it was a very harsh yellow card to receive.

"However, I'm sure we can still overcome the two-goal deficit in Garoua where the team will be playing at home and without too much pressure."

Meanwhile, Coton Sport coach Alain Ouombleon expects his side to perform a whole lot better in the home leg.

"The result is not acceptable, but we will avenge our loss in the return leg," he said.

"Ahly are dangerous at set-pieces, but we didn't show caution and conceded two goals as a result."

Meanwhile, Ahly know they're stepping into a cauldron come Sunday.

Coton have not been beaten in African competition at home since 2002 and have not conceded a goal at their own stadium during this campaign.

"We all know that a tough mission is awaiting us," assistant manager Hossam Al-Badri told Ahly's official site.

"We will have a difficult 72-hour journey, the atmosphere will be tense and our stay will hardly be comfortable. Nonetheless, we are determined to win the title.

"There is a state of optimism among the players and the technical staff, we know our fans are eager for the trophy, and so we want to make them happy.

"Coton are a very ambitious side playing at home, but our players have experience and they are capable of facing the difficult circumstances.

"They just have to be focused on their mission without paying attention to the surrounding atmosphere."

Ahly will claim a record sixth African championship should they hold out for the aggregate win, while Coton Sport want their first.

Coton's story has certainly garnered it's fair share of attention.

Today's BBC has a wonderful interview with Pierre Kaptene, former club president.

Kaptene saw the club rise from a social club to African finalists, so his view of the situation is enlightening.

"It's a dream [getting to the final] but we don't want people to think that if we lose we are not happy - for us being in the final is a fiesta," Kaptene said.

"If we can win it will be the cherry on the cake. I didn't think we could get this far so quickly because when you see the best teams in African football they have been around for 40 or 50 years or more.

"We are very young, so it's like a fairy story that we are in the final. But we won't stop here - better things are to come."

Take a look at the story here. It's a sweet read.

Also, journalist Richard Ferris of football365 from South Africa wonders why people have written off Coton's chances in the 2nd leg.

Although Coton have as much continental pedigree as Mohamed Aboutraika's big toe, the champions of Cameroon have proved that they can compete with Africa's best. That is not to mention that Manuel Jose's team are far from infallible.

A quick perusal of Coton's scalps through the current Champions League campaign is telling. Alain Ouombleon Guedou's side ended two-time African champions JS Kabylie's hopes of progressing into the group phase of the competition before beating Nigerian giants Enyimba and last year's semi-finalists Al Hilal.

The Garoua-based outfit then brought to an end Dyanamos' fantastic run in the tournament - and lest we forget the Zimbabweans beat defending champions Etoile Sahel. ...

African football journalists also appear to have very short memories. Surprisingly few hacks remember Ahly's absymal performance in last season's Champions League final which saw the Cairo giants surrender meekly to Etoile.

A good read and well worth the time ...

African Final Preview: Al Ahly-Coton Sport

Tomorrow's first leg of the African Champions League final is a classic case of David v. Goliath.

On one side, we have the expertise and experience of Egypt's Al Ahly, who are chasing a record-breaking sixth Champions League title and playing in their fourth successive final.

On the other, we have Cameroon's Coton Sport, who didn't even exist when Ahly were just beginning to win titles.

Coton reached the league phase for the first time this year and have gone on, against all expectation, to advance to their first final.

The club was only founded in 1986, and ascended into the top flight of Cameroonian football in 1993. By that time Al Ahly had already won one continental championship and three straight African Cup Winners' Cups.

Rarely has there been such a gulf in experience between two teams contesting the final of the continent's showpiece club competition, but it is not an unrealistic mismatch. Indeed Al Ahly's hopes of establishing new landmarks for the African game will be under severe threat from a Cameroonian side who have grown in confidence and ability as the competition has unfolded over the year.

Al Ahly stumbled at this block last year against a team they were heavily favored against.

Considered certainties to overtake fellow five-time winners Zamalek of Egypt after forcing a 0-0 first-leg draw at Etoile du Sahel of Tunisia last year, Ahly came horribly unstuck at home to lose the second leg 3-1.

Angry home supporters then vented their fury by hurling missiles and abuse at the Ahly players when they collected their runners-up medals.

But a year later Ahly are back in the showpiece of African club football against opponents no one outside the dusty north Cameroon cotton town of Garoua gave a chance of going so far.

Al Ahly host Sunday's first leg in Cairo seeking a decisive advantage to take to Garoua, in the arid north of Cameroon, where the second leg is to be staged on November 16. But coach Manuel Jose says it is ironic that his team fare better away from home, freed from the burden of expectation imposed by their passionate fans in the Egyptian capital.

The Portuguese, who has been at the Al Ahly helm for their last three Champions League triumphs, said on the eve of the game: "Away from home, when we are not under pressure, we perform well. But at home there is a lot of pressure from the supporters."

Al Ahly know it is vital to win the first leg and take an advantage to Garoua, where they have never played before and will find conditions to be tough.

"Ahly have the best footballers in Africa so we should go for a win whenever and wherever we play," continued their coach. The Egyptians are still sweating over the availability of captain Ahmed Hassan and Angolan winger Gilberto, who sat out their last league game to avoid aggravating a groin problem.

Here's where another disparity exists between the two sides.

Ahly supplied five Egyptians and two Angolans for the 2008 African Cup of Nations while no Coton Sport footballer made it to Ghana.

Ahly superstars like silky midfielders Mohamed Aboutraika and Mohamed Barakat and Angola-born goal predator Flavio Amado are instantly recognizable far from their Cairo base.

But no one outside Cameroon and his native Niger knew of Daouda Kamilou until his seven-goal haul in the Champions League this year lifted a veil of international obscurity.

Coton Sport Franco-Ivorian coach Alain Guedou is upbeat about his team’s chances.

“We have the keys to success. We will fight as much as we can to win the title, but I believe we are not far from achieving our objective,” he said.

But there is no shortage of confidence in the Coton Sport side. Baba Ousmaila , who was Man of the Match as the team warmed up for the final by beating Aigle Dschang 4-2 in the Cameroon Cup Final at the weekend, says the players are ready to make history.

“The victory over Aigle was important, but it is now in the past for us,” Baba told the club’s official website.

“All the players can think of now is the Champions League final.

“We know Al Ahly are a very big club and a very good team, but now Coton Sport’s time has begun. This is the moment we will gain our first Champions League trophy, we all firmly believe that.”

After a rather slow start in the group phase of this year’s competition, they stepped up their challenge with their home ground, the 35,000-capacity Stade Omnisports Roumde-Adja, proving to be a fortress. It was there that Enyimba and Power Dynamos met their Waterloo.

Coton Sport have already made history as the first club from that country to reach this stage of the competition since 1980 when the famous Canon Yaoundé won the last of their three titles.

They made easy work of Power Dynamos in the semi-finals by winning 5-0 on aggregate. After snatching a lone goal victory in Harare, they showed they were truly at home by spanking the Glamour Boys of Zimbabwe 4-0 in the second leg.

Coton Sport have dominated the Cameroonian scene since 1997.

They owe their rise to the top of the African football pile within such a short time to solid funding and organization.

Founded in 1986, they reached the final of the now redesigned CAF Cup in 2001 and have posted eight appearances in the Champions League with their best outing coming in 2004 when they got to the third round of the elimination series.

They have won the Cameroonian league nine times and were consecutive winners the past five years. They have also lifted the FA Cup four times in the last five years, winning their latest just this past weekend.

Besides parading several Cameroonian players, they also have on their books players from Niger including first-choice goalkeeper Kassaly Daouda and 20-year-old striker Kamilou Daouda. Kamilou is the team’s leading scorer in the Champions League and both he and his compatriot are already top transfer targets with the goalkeeper reportedly on his way to Turkey.

Besides that, they have a very special supporter in Cairo for their game, none other than Indomitable Lions legend Roger Milla.

Milla won worldwide acclaim back at the 1990 World Cup in Italy when he led Cameroon to the quarterfinals, scoring four goals along the way, before returning in 1994 as a 42-year-old for a less successful tournament in the USA.

His appearances in the United States World Cup made him the oldest man to feature at a World Cup finals.

So what happens now? Let's find out and see! Should be a good one no matter what.