SA sides must go ‘distance’ in Africa

WITS face another gruelling trip to Egypt next month to face Smouha Sporting Club over two legs in the play-offs of the CAF Confederation Cup following yesterday’s draw.

Wits were relegated to the less prestigious tournament after Al Ahly knocked them out of the Champions League on Sunday.

The South Africans failed to score in their own backyard, allowing the eight-time champions to continue their pursuit for yet another title after a draw in one leg and a 1-0 victory in the other.

Al Ahly beat Wits by that scoreline at the National Stadium in Cairo 10 days ago, defender Ahmed Hegazy soaring high to head the ball home past goalkeeper Moeneeb Josephs in the 56th minute.

Coach Gavin Hunt praised Al Ahly, then cautioned it would be even tougher in the Confed Cup given Wits’ limited experience in continental competitions.

“It doesn’t take much to play in this competition (Champions League), but it takes discipline like they (Al Ahly) had,” Hunt said.

“Their distances (covered by players in the match) were the best and that is how they win things and they are eighttime champions.

“In the PSL, there are no distances, everything is mix-masala (mixture) and that is why we need to work on our football, the discipline and distances, which the Egyptians do very well because there is no space to go through, and you won’t outfight them because they are much bigger than we are.

“When you play these types of games you need a little bit of craft and inventiveness in that final third. We didn’t have that in the two games.”

Hunt will travel to Alexandria this time instead of Cairo. Also looking to qualify for the group stages of the Confederation Cup are SuperSport United (against Liberia’s Barrack Young Controllers), while Platinum Stars are heading to Ivory Coast to face AS Tanda.