“Al-Ahly of Egypt” returned with a goalless draw from its match away from home against “JS Kabylie of Algeria”, on Saturday, as part of the fifth round of the group stage competitions of the African Champions League.
The match witnessed a lack of goals, with greater control and possession by the Algerian team, while “Al-Ahly” maintained its unbeaten record in the group stage, an achievement shared with it only by “Pyramids” in the first group, in addition to “Stade Mali” and “Esperance de Tunis” in the fourth group, which will meet on Sunday within the same round.
With this draw, Al-Ahly raised its score to 9 points, sitting on top, achieving official qualification, one point ahead of the second-placed “Royal Army,” which it will face in the final round in Cairo. As for “JS Kabylie”, it remained in last place with 3 points, obtained from 3 draws and 2 defeats.
“Js Kabylie” performed its best in the group stage, and began its attacking attempts early on the goal of “Mustafa Schubert”, who was the star of “Al-Ahly” by stopping many chances, most of which were through “Ayman Mahyous”, with the Algerian team clearly relying on crosses, in contrast, the Egyptian pressure on the ball carrier was weak.
“Al-Ahly” had its most dangerous opportunity in the first half through a counterattack by “Marwan Othman,” but it was slow in passing the ball to “Mahmoud Hassan “Trezeguet”” to waste the opportunity. Before the end of the first half, Trezeguet suffered an injury and left the field at the beginning of the second half, to be replaced by Taher Mohamed Taher.
In the second half, “JS Kabylie” continued its pressure in an attempt to score a goal that would give them hope, and “Schubert” blocked a dangerous attempt with a header, while “Mahyous” shot went over the crossbar. Al-Ahly coach Yes Torop made several changes in the 66th minute, then brought on the Angolan Yeltsin Kamwes in the final minutes to take advantage of his speed in counterattacks.
On the other hand, JS Kabylie coach Josef Zinnbauer made several offensive substitutions in an attempt to break the tie, but the score remained the same until the referee blew the final whistle. (Sky News)
