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South Africa: 'We Wuz Robbed' Becomes 'We Will Be Robbed' for Miguel
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Business Day (Johannesburg)
9 May 2008
Posted to the web 9 May 2008
Mninawa Ntloko
Johannesburg
FORTHRIGHT Platinum Stars coach Miguel Gamondi expects the referee of his side's nail biting third round African Champions League showdown versus Al-Ahly to go out of his way to ensure the Egyptians are triumphant in Cairo on Sunday.
The powerhouse "African club of the 20th century" are rarely ever beaten at home in Confederation of African Football (Caf) competitions and Gamondi said the match officials -- who are all from Uganda -- would try to keep it that way.
"I am saying right now that there will be a problem with the referees," Gamondi said.
"I have coached in three Arabic countries and I know exactly what the referees are capable of. Anything is possible when your team is away to those countries and we have to be prepared."
To counter the expected bias, the Argentinean spent this week trying to get the players to understand what they may or may not do inside the likely cauldron atmosphere at the Cairo National stadium.
"I have been telling the players that they cannot protest any of the referee's decisions.
"They cannot protest even if they are on the receiving end of some bad tackles because that referee will be waiting to issue them with yellow cards."
However, the expected intimidation from the match officials and the 100000-strong crowd notwithstanding, Gamondi insisted that the five-time Champions League winners were not invincible, even in their Cairo stronghold.
"Going to Cairo and getting a result is not going to be mission impossible because Al-Ahly are not invincible. We have to retain the winning mentality we gained at home in the first leg.
"And besides, this is not the intimidating Al-Ahly of three or four years ago."
The Tycoons -- as the Stars are fondly known -- take a slender 2-1 lead from the first leg but Gamondi warned that his charges could not afford to adopt a defensive formation if they wanted to become the first South African club to dump Al-Ahly out of the Champions League.
"We might be in the lead after the first leg but this is really half-time. We have to finish it off now and that means we cannot defend. It is important for us to score and we cannot fear this team," he said.
The Egyptian side's assistant coach, Hossam El Badri, promised two weeks ago that Stars could expect a completely different Al-Ahly to the one they faced in Pretoria last month.
His confident outlook might be motivated by the priceless away goal from Emad Moteab that was sandwiched between Koketso Mmotong and Edward Williams' winning goals for Stars. Gamondi lamented that away goal and said the assignment would have been challenging enough, even had they not conceded Moteab's goal.
Another setback for the Tycoons was the midweek 3-1 defeat at the hands of Free State Stars in the domestic premiership that deflated the confident mood in the camp. This was a game that Gamondi would have preferred not to play as, besides injury risks, the Stars coach indicated that defeat had the potential to sour the mood.
"We really needed to win that game and we are disappointed. Perhaps the players were already thinking about Al-Ahly and I was afraid there was a possibility of that happening."
Stars travelled to Egypt on Wednesday with several players "a little worse for wear" after the encounter against the Free State visitors but they are expected to recover.
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In other Caf games featuring South African clubs this weekend, Mamelodi Sundowns host Sudanese visitors Al Hilal at Super stadium on Sunday, in another Champions League match.
Sundowns are trailing 4-2 from the first leg two weeks ago.
Finally, Ajax Cape Town will take a comfortable 5-1 lead from the first leg when they are away to Mount Cameroon of Cameroon in the Confederations Cup, in a match also scheduled for Sunday.
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