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Ismaily’s coach,
Mark Wotte, has accused the Confederation of African Football (CAF),
following the Egyptian side’s defeat at the hands of Nigeria’s
Heartland in last weekend’s CAF Champions League fixture.

This follows the
decision of the football governing body to reject the Egyptian club’s
request to alter the timing of the game decided at the Dan Anyiam
Stadium in Owerri.

The match got
underway at 1500 hours local time, with Heartland securing their first
win of the group stage of the tournament after coming from a goal down
to win 2-1 with the winning goal arriving five minutes from the end of
the game.

With only two games
left before the end of the group stage, Sunday’s loss all but ended
Ismaily’s hopes of advancing to the semi-finals, but Wotte feels the
situation would had been different had CAF, whose headquarters is in
Egypt, accepted their request to change the kickoff time after his
players refused to break their fast.

Depleted energy

Last Sunday was the
19th day of Islam’s holy month of Ramadan and the Ismaily coach
believes the fasting depleted his players’ energy levels.

“I don’t want to
speak about religious issues but the fasting affected my players
today,” Wotte said, following Ismaily’s third group stage defeat in
four games.

“CAF is to blame for that because it forced us to play during the day. It should have changed the timing of the match.

“Food is very
important for the players. They couldn’t perform well in the second
half. They lost energy and concentration.” Ismaily’s defeat leaves them
at the bottom of the Group B standings with three points, one behind
third-placed Heartland and two behind fellow Egyptian club side Al-Ahly
who lie in second place following their unimpressive 1-1 draw against
visiting JS Kabylie of Algeria, also on Sunday.

The draw in Cairo
ensured Kabylie, who finished the game with 10 men, became the first
club to advance to the semi-finals of this year’s CAF Champions League
with an unassailable 10 points.

Al-Ahly or
Heartland can still join Kabylie if they win their remaining two games
but they’ll have to play each other in Cairo on September 12, making it
impossible for both teams to overhaul the Algerians.

Al-Ahly’s coach
Hossam Al-Badri however feels his side, rather than Heartland, will be
the ones to join Kabylie in advancing to the last four of the
tournament they have won a record six times.

When asked about Ahli’s hopes of reaching the Champions League semi-finals,

Al-Badri, who berated his strikers for fluffing the numerous chances
that came their way against the Algerians, replied: “We are in second
place, so our chance to qualify for the next round is substantial.”