South Africa’s Orlando Pirates book their place in the CAF Confederation Cup final after beating Al Ahly of Egypt.
|||Johannesburg - Orlando Pirates of South Africa recovered from trailing by two goals to triumph 4-3 at title-holders Al Ahly of Egypt Sunday and reach the CAF Confederation Cup final.
Leading 1-0 from the first leg last weekend, the Soweto Buccaneers qualified 5-3 on aggregate and face Etoile Sahel of Tunisia in a two-legged final.
The climax of the second-tier African Football Confederation (CAF) club competition is set for successive weekends between November 20 and 29 with the first game in South Africa.
Etoile won the Confederation Cup in 2006 and were runners-up two years later while Pirates will be first-time finalists.
Defeat for Ahly, winners of a record 19 CAF titles, completed a miserable weekend for Egyptian clubs with Cairo neighbours Zamalek also bowing out despite a gallant second-leg comeback.
Seemingly doomed having lost 5-1 at Etoile, Zamalek shrugged off having Ali Gabr red-carded in the fifth minute to win 3-0 but were eliminated 5-4 on aggregate.
Kermit Erasmus, Thamsanqa Gabuza, Thabo Matlaba and Thabo Rakhale scored for Pirates at the New Suez Stadium, east of Cairo.
Gabonese Malick Evouna struck in each half to give Ahly a 2-0 lead on the night and a one-goal overall advantage, and Amr Gamal was the other scorer for the home side.
Pirates will be seeking a third piece of CAF silverware when they meet Etoile after winning the 1995 CAF Champions Cup (now CAF Champions League) and the CAF Super Cup the following year.
Defeat completed a disastrous year for Ahly, who surrendered the Egyptian league title season to Zamalek and also lost the cup final to their arch domestic rivals.
At the final whistle in Suez, Fathy Mabrouk had the look of a coach who knows the sack is virtually inevitable following 12 trophy-less months.
After government authorities initially refused to admit spectators because of post-Arab Spring security concerns, they relented and a small crowd was permitted to attend.
Ahly controlled first-half territory and possession and deserved to lead 1-0 at half-time after Evouna sprang a 43rd-minute offside trap and rounded Equatoguinean goalkeeper Felix Ovono to tap the ball into the net.
A snap, long clearance from goalkeeper Sherif Ekramy caught Pirates off-guard on 53 minutes and unmarked Evouna nodded home a cross to double the lead.
A couple of substitutes brought Pirates back into the game with a Rakhale cross only partially cleared and Erasmus drilled a half-volley into the corner.
When Gabuza burst into the box 15 minutes from time his shot deflected off Mohamed Naguib and over Ekramy for the second-leg equaliser.
Matlaba put the visitors ahead after intercepting a careless Ekramy clearance, Gamal levelled and Rakhale won the match with a close-range shot five minutes into stoppage time.
Kahraba scored twice for Zamalek in Cairo 24 hours earlier and Ghazi Abderrazak conceded an own-goal, but a fourth unanswered goal that would have won the tie eluded the Egyptians.
AFP
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