Orlando Pirates will have to tread very carefully against an Al Ahly side that will arrive at the Orlando Stadium tomorrow night wounded and therefore very dangerous.
Eager to make good use of home ground advantage to set themselves up for a spot in the CAF Confederation Cup final, the Buccaneers have been talking about the importance of registering a win without conceding a goal in this first leg match.
Of course Eric Tinkler and his team also have that desire to knock the Red Devils out so they avenge the 2013 CAF Champions League final defeat the Egyptian giants inflicted on them.
Yet if the 1995 African champions have double motivation going into the fifth meeting with the nine-time continental kings, the same can be said of their visitors.
The Confederation Cup title holders are a side in pain, Ahly coming into the match with their status as Egypt’s foremost side ripped away from them by Zamalek.
Just on Tuesday, Ahly lost the Egypt Cup final 2-0 to the White Knights. That defeat was the proverbial case of Zamalek adding salt to Ahly’s wounds – the latter having also dethroned the former as league champions in the north African country.
That Zamalek are also in the Confederation Cup semi-final is sure to spur Ahly on to wanting to beat Pirates. Nothing will please the Red Devils more than the opportunity to put one over their arch-rivals in the final of the continent’s second tier cup.
And so it will be a fired-up outfit Pirates welcome to Orlando tomorrow, the challenge being on Tinkler’s team to muster a result they have failed to achieve in a month.
Pirates have not won a match since August 22 when they beat AC Leopards to book their place in the semi-final. But anything less than victory tomorrow will render their dream of adding a second continental title to the club’s cabinet near impossible, Ahly always hard to beat in their own backyard.
Pirates’ quest for success will be made all the more harder by the unavailability of their talismanic captain Oupa Manyisa who sustained a fractured ankle in a league match this week. Along with striker Kermit Erasmus, Manyisa is Pirates’ leading scorer in the competition with four goals.
While filling the gap that would be left by the player fondly referred to as ‘Ace’ – a nickname reserved only for special talents – will not be easy, Tinkler cannot be said to be lacking in depth. And whoever he picks to use in the heart of his midfield should be good enough to give Pirates the attacking impetus necessary if they are to trouble Ahly.
Perhaps the Bucs coach’s main worry will be how to get his team confident in the final third – Pirates having been particularly poor in their finishing lately.
Though Tinkler expressed confidence in his team’s defensive displays, he knows they will have to be extra solid to keep the clean sheet they desperately need to give themselves a chance to get to the final.
For in Ahly they will be up against a wounded side eager for a victory that will ease the pain of a rare domestic humiliation by their bitter adversaries.
In the other semi-final Etoile du Sahel (Tunisia) play Zama-lek (Egypt) in Sousse. - The Star