Eastern send Butali Sugar Warriors packing in penalty shootout
Egypt's Eastern Company players celebrate a goal against Butali Warriors during their semi-final match of the Africa Cup of Club Championships at City Park Stadium on January 14, 2017. PHOTO | MARTIN MUKANGU |
What you need to know:
- The defeat ended Butali’s dream of reaching their maiden final after a painfull loss at the hands of the Egyptians.
- Eastern will on Sunday play in the final against either Kenya Police and Ghana Police, who were due to face each other in the second semi-final, later Saturday evening.
Kenya’s Butali Sugar Warriors on Saturday lost 4-2 in a penalty shootout to champions Eastern Company of Egypt in a dramatic men’s semi-final match of the Africa Cup of Club Championship at the City Park Stadium, Nairobi.
The defeat ended Butali’s dream of reaching their maiden final after a painfull loss at the hands of the Egyptians. Eastern will on Sunday play in the final against either Kenya Police and Ghana Police, who were due to face each other in the second semi-final, later Saturday evening.
Butal had recovered from a goal down to lead 2-1 at halftime before the North Africans levelled matters in the second half. Butali squandered chances to win the match in regular time and were made to rue those misses as Eastern clinically converted their first four kicks.
Mahmoud Aboutaleb, Ahmed Amr, Ibrahim Amr and Ibrahim Abdallah were successful in their spot kicks while Elnaggar missed his penalty.
Butali stand-in coach Meshack Senge (above) put on a brave face despite the defeat admitting his charges should have won it in regular time.
“It is painful to lose in such a way. The lads gave their all but we lacked the finishing touch and our opponents were clinical in their penalties,” Senge said.
Constant Wakhura, Frank Wanangwe and Emmanuel Simiyu were unable to score past Eastern keeper Shehata Farahat to the disappointment of the home fans, who turned out in large numbers.
Joost Ruksen and Jannis Van Hattum scored their penalties for Butali.
Eastern’s Mohamed Ramy praised Butali for their effort.
“We were able to recover well after falling behind and our fighting spirit carried us through,” he said.
Butali, bronze medallists in 2009, will now contest the third place play-off match on Sunday. Eastern took the lead in the 24th minute after Ramy slotted home from a penalty corner. The lead lasted just seconds as Butali hit back through Simiyu’s backhand effort that found the top right hand corner.
Dutch import Joost Ruksen gave Butali a 2-1 lead at the break finishing off another short corner. The visitors levelled after the break through another well worked short corner by Amr.
Twenty three times winners Sharkia, who have had a disappointing tourney, finished in fifth place after they edged out Ghana’s Exchequers 3-2 in a seeding match.
Ibrahim Sameer, Ahmed Gamal and skipper Moahmed Ahmed were on target for the Egyptians while Elorm Akaba and Emmanuel Ankomah replied for the West Africans.
It is the first time since the inception of the tourney in 1988 that the Egyptian club will not feature in the final. Sharkia finished third in Pool B behind Ghana Police and Butali, who finished in first and second place respectively.
The 2015 women’s silver medallists Ghana Police secured position five in the women’s category after they thrashed Sharkia 6-2 in their seeding match. Faustina Aggrey grabbed a brace as the law enforcers recovered from falling behind to claim an emphatic win.
