Etoile maul Zamalek, put one foot in Confed final

ERIC TINKLER clearly spoke too early. After his team’s 1-0 Caf Confederation Cup semi-final, first-leg defeat of Al Ahly, the Orlando Pirates coach waxed lyrical about Zamalek being the “favourites” to win Africa’s second-tier competition.

But it is highly unlikely to be the White Knights the Buccaneers will face in the final should Tinkler’s men overcome Al Ahly in Suez this weekend. It is rather Tunisia’s Etoile du Sahel who produced a shock result of epic proportions on Sunday and potentially may stand in the way of the Buccaneers adding a second continental title to their cabinet exactly 20 years after capturing the Champions Cup.

Etoile’s 5-1 mauling of Zamalek was the greatest upset in the competition’s 12-year history and it will take a miracle for the Egyptian double champions to overcome the deficit in the second leg in Cairo on Saturday.

Yet having put four past Pirates in the final group match before the semi-final, Zamalek will believe they can do the same against the Tunisians. That appears highly unlikely, though, and no doubt Tinkler will now sing a different tune about Etoile.

“Etoile are a very strong team,” he said on Saturday night “But they are not... very offensive. They defend well, hit you on the counter and score a lot from set-pieces.”

Surely a non-offensive team would not have been able to put five against a Zamalek team that is “favourites for this cup?”

But before they can take on the Tunisians, there is the small matter of defending their first-leg lead, and overcoming Al Ahly.

“We lost to Zamalek (last Tuesday) and to Orlando because the players were not in a good state. But that’s how football is, even Barcelona lost 4-1 (to Celta Vigo),” said Ahly coach Fathy Mabrouk “We talked about the importance of holding on to the ball because Orlando can punish you on the wings. We learnt from our mistakes. We have players who can score, so that is not going to be a problem for us.” – Matshelane Mamabolo