November 2, 2000

Emmanuel Maracas

Sundowns of South Africa were stranded in Johannesburg on Thursday night, after the Air Afrique plane due to take them to Abidjan for Saturday's all-important CAF Champions' League tie with Africa Sport, was held up in Dakar by technical problems.

The match was originally scheduled for last weekend, but was postponed because of the violent aftermath of Ivory Coast's presidential election. The Sundowns players had been due to leave Johannesburg on Thursday morning, but desperate club officials now say their only chance of arriving in Abidjan on time is on a Cameroon Airlines flight via Douala on Friday.

At the club's request, the South African Football Association has forwarded a request to the Confederation of African Football to postpone the tie for 24 hours.

The travel problems will come as a heavy blow to the South African champions, who need at least one point from the game before going into their final group match, at home to also-rans Sable Batie of Cameroon. A closing win would then guarantee them the group's top slot, ahead of Tunisian contenders EspC)rance, and a berth in the final of Africa's most prestigious club competition.

Ghana's Hearts of Oak have already booked their place in the final, the winners of which will go through to next year's FIFA Club World Championship B and earn a guaranteed $5m.

Abidjan has also proved a troublesome destination, meanwhile, for Egyptian club Ismaily, who play their CAF Cup second-leg semi-final against Stade d'Abidjan on Sunday.

The Egyptians have been forced to travel via Amsterdam, in order to arrive in the Ivorian capital on Friday afternoon. But then, having won the first leg 5-0, they have less than Sundowns to worry about.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200011020311.html

-- Doris (reaper@pacifier.com), November 03, 2000