Egyptian Cairo soccer club Al Ahly have reached the CAF Champions League quarter-finals for the third year in a row following a 3-0 victory over JS Saoura on Saturday. The Reds entered the game sitting in second place with seven points, one behind leaders JS Saoura, while AS Vita Club and Simba came third and fourth with seven and six points. They needed to beat the Algerians by any scoreline to top their group and secure their place in the knockout rounds, while a draw would have been enough for the visitors to advance. Al Ahly started the game with huge intensity and they tried to score an early goal and they nearly managed to do so through Nasser Maher, whose shot from inside the box went inches wide of the post. They managed to break the deadlock in the 30th minute, when Maaloul ran down the left wing, before his cross was turned into the net by JS Saoura defender Fateh Talah. In the dying moments of the first-half, Marwan Mohsen doubled Al Ahly's lead after another brilliant run by Ali Maaloul, who toyed with his defender before sending a low cross to Mohsen, who finished from inside the box. The visitors dominated the early minutes of the second-half as they tried to get back into the game, however, they couldn't create any clear-cut chances. Marwan Mohsen came so close to score his second of the game after another cross from Maaloul, but his header couldn't find the target. Karim Nedved, Nasser Maher, and Ramadan Sobhi could have added their names to the scoresheet, but it was Hussein El-Shahat who managed to do so in the 82nd minute after a great solo effort from Ramadan Sobhi. Meanwhile, in the other encounter, Simba managed to come back from behind and scored a 90th-minute winner against AS Vita Club to finish second in the group and advance to the next round alongside Al Ahly. Following the results of both games, Al Ahly qualify as the group winners with 10 points, while Simba sit second with nine and are followed by JS Saoura and AS Vita Club who were knocked out with eight and seven points respectively.
