Stellies bungle home advantage in draw with Zamalek

Stellenbosch couldn’t capitalise on home turf advantage, playing a goalless draw against Zamalek of Egypt in the first leg of the CAF Confederation Cup quarterfinals at Cape Town Stadium on Wednesday.

The goalless draw in the home leg means Stellies have it all to do in the second leg against Zamalek, who are the defending champions and a giant of African football with a huge pedigree in CAF competitions, in Cairo next Wednesday (6pm). 

On Wednesday, the first stanza was evenly matched, though Stellenbosch made more box entries, creating a few half chances with the likes of Ashley Cupido and Andre de Jong lacking that cutting edge to make them count.

It is worth noting that all those half chances were off target. In fact, the first half produced zero shots on target as Zamalek also failed to register one.

The White Knights mainly used their full-backs Omar Gaber and Ahmed Mohamed, on the right and left sides to threaten. However, most of the pair’s dangerous balls, especially cutbacks, were easily intercepted by Stellies midfielders Sihle Nduli and Thato Khiba, who always dropped deep when they were out of possession.

Stellenbosch tried to play a long ball to their speedy winger Devin Titus at times but he couldn't get the better of Mohamed on the left flank.

Stellenbosch nearly broke the deadlock four minutes into the second stanza when Khiba’s well-measured cross found Genino Palace, only for him to miss the ball completely and, instead, plunged into the Zamalek goalkeeper Mohamed Moussa.

Palace was withdrawn for Ibraheem Jabaar in the 65th minute after struggling with what looked like cramp.

The Maroons had one impressive possession stint early in the second period, knocking the ball around for almost a minute until Fawaaz Basadien decided to whip in a cross that was lamentably deflected off Palace for a Zamalek goal-kick.

Stellies thereafter played in patches, also struggling to really penetrate the Zamalek’s rearguard.

The Egyptian giants started being purposeful in the last 15 minutes, throwing everything at Stellies.

Their late resurgence almost paid off when Ahmed Sayed played a neat cross into the box, finding Nasser Mansi, whose header was saved magnificently by Sage Stephens.