Yanga: Security crucial in Cairo

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania’s representatives in the African Champions League, Young Africans, have requested the government and the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) to ensure tight security in the return leg match against defending champions Al Ahly on March 9 at Cairo Stadium.

Speaking with The Citizen, the club Competition and Registration Committee chairman, Abdallah Bin Kleb, said that they have received reports that Cairo Security Directorate department has banned Al Ahly ultra fans from attending the match.

Bin Kleb said that security forces in Egypt clashed with Zamalek White Knights fans who tried to enter Cairo Stadium to watch the match between Zamalek and Angola champions Cabo Schrob where they managed to arrest 33 of them.

He said the report quoted Azmi Megahed, the Football Union’s Media Department head, saying citizens would not be allowed to attend the match due to current security conditions. He said they were happy with the report, but but nosted that getting assurance from the government, TFF and the Confederation of African Football Association (CAF) was important.

“We call on TFF to communicate with CAF concerning this situation as it is very tense especially considering that their team Al Ahly needs to win by a 2-0 margin in order to advance just as we need to win too in order to qualify for the next stage,” said Bin Kleb.

He said that they had also called on the government to communicate with the Tanzania High Commission in Egypt for assurance on the matter. He noted, however, that they have taken all measures to counter any acts of sabotage from the opponents. Bin Kleb said all players were in a good form and expected to leave the country tomorrow night for Cairo ready for the encounter. The contigent will comprise 20 players and officials as per CAF rules and regulations.

“We expect to see other team officials attending the match to be played around 9pm next Sunday... the final list would be unveiled by Tuesday (today) after finalising travel logistics,” he said.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs minister Benard Membe has urged Young Africans players not to rest on their laurels in the second leg encounter against African Champions League defending champions, Al Ahly of Egypt. Membe who was the guest of honor in the encounter, said that the only Tanzanian envoys must play with determination in the encounter in order to qualify for the next round.

He said that the team should not underrate the Egyptians and needed to acclimatize with the Cairo climate which is somehow cold. He praised the Tanzanian side for playing attractive football in the first encounter and dominating most of the game. But he said they failed to capitalise on the many scoring chances they got.

“The score does not reflect the actual chances they got or domination in the match, we played very well and overshadowed the defending champions, my call for the players not to repeat the same mistakes in away match, they must utilize well,” he said.

Ends…

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Young Africans striker, Emmanuel Okwi beats Al Ahly defenders during the African Champions League first leg match at the National Stadium on Match 1st. Young Africans won 1-0. PHOTO/FILE

UTILITY

The CAF Champions League is an annual international club football competition run by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The top club sides from Africa’s football leagues are invited to participate in this competition, which is the premier club football competition on the continent and the equivalent to the UEFA Champions League. Due to sponsorship reasons, the official name is Orange CAF Champions League, with Orange Champions League also in use.

The winner of the tournament earns a berth in the FIFA Club World Cup, a tournament contested between the champion clubs from all six continental confederations.

Initially, the competition saw the league champions of each national league existing under the jurisdiction of the CAF coming together over a 12 month period of home and away knock-out fixtures until the quarter-final, semi-final and final stage was reached for the winning team to be declared the African champion of champions.

Starting life as the ‘African Champions Cup’ in 1964, the first team to lift the trophy was Cameroonian side Oryx Douala, who beat Stade Malien of Mali 2-1 in a one-off final.

There was no tournament held the following year, but the action resumed again in 1966, when the two-legged ‘home and away’ final was introduced, which saw another Malian team AS Real Bamako take on Stade d’Abidjan of the Côte d’Ivoire. Bamako won the home leg 3-1 but it all came apart for them in the away game in Abidjan as the Ivorians went on to win 4-1 to take the title 5-4 on aggregate.