It’s Egypt again as Hunt laments SA players’ lack of ‘distance’

JOHANNESBURG: Wits face another gruelling trip to Egypt next month to face Smouha Sporting Club over two legs in the playoffs of the CAF Confederation Cup following yesterday’s draw.

Wits were relegated to the less prestigious, but still attractive, 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 of yet another title as they progressed having drawn one leg and won the other 1-0. 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.

Wits coach Gavin Hunt praised the Egyptians and expressed a keen interest in seeing his side contest a place in the group stages of the Confed Cup, but cautioned that quest would be even tougher 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 a game) were the best and that is how they win things and they are eight-time 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 if you are going to do well. We didn’t have that in the two games.”

Hunt (pictured) will travel to Alexandria this time instead of Cairo. “We will give it another go again because the games will be better spaced and we will have a chance of playing our strongest squad,” the coach said.

The Clever Boys aren’t the only SA team looking to qualify for the group stages of the Confederation Cup. SuperSport United were drawn to face Liberia’s Barrack Young Controllers over two legs next month, while Platinum Stars are heading to the Ivory Coast to face AS Tanda.

The winners in this playoff round qualify for the group stages.