Sat, 01 Jul 2017 11:54:37 +0000
By GRACE CHAILE LESOETSA
ZESCO United‘s chances of booking a CAF Confederation Cup quarter-final berth hangs on a thread following their 1-1 draw to Egyptian side Smouha in Alexandria last night.
The Zambian side took the lead in the 85th minute when Yasser Ibrahim scored an own goal from a Jesse Were effort.
But the lead was spoiled in the 90th minute when David Owino fouled Ahmed Aly in the box, handing Smouha a penalty. Banou Diaware calmly took the spot kick sending Jacob Banda to the wrong side of the net.
A high tempo start at El Borg Stadium, saw Smouha dominate the first 20 minutes of the game, keeping the Zesco defenders busy.
Smouha taken an early lead in the fifth minute when Ahmed Sayed beautifully setup Hossam Hassan who shot wide the net on close range.
Another chance came in the 20th minute for the home team, but Hassan’s low shot from inside the box was cleared off for a goal kick by Ben Banh.
Five minutes later, Zesco came close to breaking the deadlock, but Jesse Were’s shot went over the bar under-pressure from on-rushing Smouha goalkeeper Mohamed Abougaba.
Zesco lacked clear chances in second half while Smouha were a shadow on goal.
The draw pushed Zesco to joint seven points with Al Hilal Ubayyid of Sudan who today take on Recreativo de Libolo of Angola with six points in the other Group C match while bottom placed Smouha has five points.
Zesco will have to win their final group match when they host Al Hilal on July 10 in Ndola.
