GRi Sports 22 – 10 – 2002

Osei leads goal-king

Congo (Brazzaville) 22 October 2002 - A seventh goal of the tournament for Asante Kotoko striker Michael Osei on Sunday helped propel the Ghanaian club into its first African Cup Winners' Cup final.

Osei scored Kotoko's second goal in their 3-2 away win over AS Police of Congo in Brazzaville in the second leg of the semifinal, completing a 7-2 aggregate win.

The win breaks new ground for Kotoko which has twice before won the African Champions Cup and appeared in five finals and remains one of the top clubs in more than three decades of African club competition.

It will come up against Wydad Casablanca next month, after the Moroccan club eliminated USM Alger of Algeria on the away goals rule in Algiers on Sunday.

Wydad's victory again proved the midas touch of their Argentine coach Luis-Oscar Fullone, whose previous success in African club competition was in the Champions League with ASEC Abidjan of the Cote d’ Ivoire in 1998 and Raja Casablanca the following year.

Fullone has been at Wydad for less than a month but has now further extended his reputation in the region after the 2-2 draw in the Algerian capital.

The Moroccan side went into Sunday's second leg at a disadvantage after a goalless draw at home in the first leg earlier this month. But Wydad twice led against their host and now have the chance to add the Cup Winners' Cup title to the Champions Cup trophy they claimed a decade ago.

They also keep up their fervent rivalry with neighbor Raja Casablanca, which plays in the Champions League semifinals next month.

Kotoko were always comfortably placed after winning the first leg of their semifinals 4-0 against Congo's policemen in Kumasi earlier this month.

Although they conceded an early goal, the Ghanaians levelled before halftime and then added two more goals in the second half with Osei and then Ghanaian international Shila Alhassan scoring.

JS Kabylie of Algeria needed a controversial last minute penalty to keep up their quest for a third successive Confederation of African Football (CAF) Cup trophy.

Farouk Belkaid converted the spot kick in Friday's semifinal, second leg match in Algiers to give JSK a 2-0 win over Egyptian club Al Masry and a narrow 2-1 aggregate triumph.

It was the second successive year that Kabylie's had scored at the end of the game to scrape through their semi-final. Their final opponents next month will be Tonnerre Yaounde of Cameroun, who lost in Abidjan on Sunday but still won through to the decider.

Tonnerre were beaten 2-1 by Satellite FC of Cote d’Ivoire but won on the away goals rule after travelling to West Africa with a 1-0 lead from the first leg at home.

Sunday's vital away goal came from Alain-Guy Olinga. The CAF Cup final will be decided next month while in the Cup Winners' Cup, Wydad host the first leg on November 17 with Asante Kotoko playing at home in Kumasi in the return on December 8. – Reuters

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