Tanzania champions Simba beat Egyptian giants Al Ahly 1-0 at the National Stadium, Dar es Salaam to revive their hopes of a next round berth.
The victory for Simba comes just ten days after they suffered humiliation defeat of 5-0 in the reverse in the Mediterranean resort city of Alexandria.
Simba jumps to second place in Group D on six points, one shy of leaders Ahly, courtesy a Meddie Kagere strike in the 64th minute that caught the Egyptians by surprise.
The hoers dominated the game, creating several chances through forwards Emmanuel Okwi, John Bocco and Kagere, but Ahly goalie Mohammed Elshenawy was equal to the task and quelled all the threats.
Ahly strike first in the opening minute of the game through Hussein Elshahat but Simba goalie, Aishi Manula responded with a superb save to help his side to remain in contention.
Ghana-import James Kotei, Okwi, Kagere and defender Serge Wawa had shots on goal for Simba in the opening quarter of an hour, but their efforts caused no trouble to Elshenawy.
Simba continue its domination, creating two more chances in the second quarter of the game, before Elshahat lost a chance to open the deadlock after his shot at near post went wide.
Manula denied Elshahat yet again in the first half, whilst Kagere came closer to breaking duck just before the break.
Simba started the second half on a high momentum, creating four clear chances in just five minutes through Bocco and Okwi, but all went in vain.
It was only a matter of time that the opener would come and it did come four minutes past the hour mark from a close range shot, from a Bocco assist. It was his sixth goal of the campaign.
Nigerian-import, Oluwafemi Ajayi squander a clear chance to level the score for the visitors in the dying minutes of the game following a miscommunication between Manula and defender Zana Coulibaly inside the six yard.
Reactions
Patrick Aussems (Head Coach, Simba)
It was a good game for us today. After the big loss in Alexandria we had to change a couple of things and I am happy that we did well today. In the first half, we were not that clinical but we kept the spirit in the second half and we managed to score the winner. The group now is open, we have two more games, and we will see what we can get.
Martin Lasarte (Head Coach, Al Ahly)
We have lost an important game today, well done to Simba. We played well but we didn’t get good results today. Now we have two more games to finish the group stage, and we are still at the top, we will fight to get good chance of progressing to the next stage.
Cafonline
