The November 1st stadium in Tizi Ouzou was packed to the rafters on Sunday. JSK’s supporters turned out in force to support their favourite team and wile away the long Ramadan evening.
Hopes were high after a humiliating loss in the first round.
"After the debacle of the first leg match, JSK were bound to defend their honour. With the two-nil victory, the average goal calculations could be a determining factor in the end, and that’s where our team needs a bit of luck, even if they do well in their future matches," die-hard fan Arezki Nessah told Magharebia. JSK made their mark from the very beginning of the match, pleasing Coach Mohamed Ifticen with an all-out battle for the midfield.
Barely six minutes had passed when the referee awarded a penalty to Kabylia, following a cross from Oussalah, which made contact with the hand of a Ghanaian defender in the penalty area. Striker Bensaid netted the ball with great style, filling the stands with joy. The crowd could not have hoped for a better debut.
This early achievement galvanised the local players, who redoubled their efforts, leading attack after attack, forcing Asante to dig in defensively, countering when and where they could.
Fifteen minutes later, striker Boudjelid Hérite lost a scoring opportunity for being offsides. A number of other scoring opportunities punctuated the first half, but the score remained 1-0.
After the break, a determined Ghanaian team emerged from the changing rooms, fully intent upon making up lost ground. Asante's strong stance forced the Algerians into defensive positions and for fifteen minutes, JSK's supporters were uneasy.
But in the face of the impenetrable defensive curtain set up by the Kabylians, the equaliser never came, and the Ghanaians' nerves got the better of them. A kick to the chest of JSK's Abdesslam earned Asante's Kopo a red card.
JSK's quest for a second goal was long and anguishing for the team's fans. Only in the 85th minute did Berramla evade three of Asante's defenders to slip the ball into the opponent's net. "We dominated the whole match and could have hoped to win by a wider margin, but you mustn’t ask too much of your players," said JSK coach Ifticen. "The Asante team was fresher physically, given that they have been playing in the Ghanaian championship for several months, whilst we’ve got just a few matches in our legs."
"The main thing is that we came back to match the level of our opponents in the pool. There are still two more matches where we have to aim to win," he said. Related Articles
Asante's Coach Hayforda had difficulty hiding his bitterness, and challenged the penalty.
"We were caught out by an early goal after an offence which was by no means clear. Personally, I didn’t see a hand-ball," Hayforda said.
"Having said that, the road to qualification remains open. The home matches have proved decisive, and that’s why we’re going to concentrate our efforts on our next match in Kumasi against ES Sahel," the coach added.
