Coton look to make the most of home advantage

Coton Sport will look to make the most of home advantage when they host Egyptian giants Al Ahly in the first leg of the CAF Confederation Cup semifinal on Saturday.

Kick-off at the Omnisport Roumde Adjia Stadium in Garoua is set for 17h00 CAT.

The West African side earned their place in the final four thanks to a second-place finish in Group A. Coton finished level with Congo’s AC Leopards on 11 points from their six matches, but the Central Africans enjoyed a superior head-to-head record and thus topped the mini league.

The Cameroonian side’s reward is a match against Al Ahly, who won just two matches in Group B and finished on nine points but did enough to edge Cote d’Ivoire’s Sewe Sport to top spot. The pool was certainly competitive, with just three points separating the four sides in the final standings.

Ahly come into the game having claimed a first piece of silverware under new coach Juan Carlos Garrido, who guided the Cairo club to the Egyptian Super Cup with a penalty shootout win over arch rivals Zamalek this past weekend.

The Red Devils are the first Egyptian side to reach the semifinals of the Confederation Cup since ENPPI in 2009, though they went on to lose to Stade Malien.

This semifinal could be seen as a revenge mission for Coton Sport, as it is a rematch of the 2008 Champions League final which Ahly won 4-2 on aggregate to claim their sixth African club title.