Hearts of Oak head for Champions League final

By Mark Gleeson

JOHANNESBURG, Oct 15 (Reuters)(DS) - Ghana's Hearts of Oak

maintained their 100 percent record in the African Champions

League on Sunday with a 2-0 home win over Nigeria's Lobi Stars

and are now just two points away from securing a place in the

final.

The fourth successive win in group B for the Accra-based

team came in front of 40,000 fans, with Kenneth Sarpong scoring

first in the 22nd minute and captain Emmanuel Osei Kuffour

completing the triumph 10 minutes from time.

The result kept them five points ahead of nearest rivals,

and pre-tournament favourites, Al Ahli of Egypt, who won their

group match against Jeanne d'Arc of Senegal on Friday night.

Hearts, who travel to Cairo for their next game in two

weeks, need just two points from their last two matches to go

through to the two-legged final in December.

There they are likely to meet the South African club

Mamelodi Sundowns, who opened up a two point lead in group A

after beating Esperance of Tunisia in Pretoria on Saturday.

Sundowns' captain Daniel Mudau scored both goals in the key

match against the side who were runners-up in the African

Champions League last year.

MAJOR HURDLE

But Sundowns still have a major hurdle in the form of Africa

Sports, who went second in the group A standings on Sunday after

a 3-1 win over Sable de Batie.

The winless Cameroon champions lead 1-0 at half-time through

Emmanuel Kenmoye's sixth-minute strike but the home team turned

the game round with three goals in the second half.

Africa Sports host Sundowns in two weeks' time, but Sundowns

have their final match in the group at home in Pretoria to

bottom-placed Sable de Batie in mid-November, wich should allow

them the opportunity to pick up the points necessary to clinch

the group's top spot.

Sundowns' win came on the day their coach Clemens Westerhof

announced he was suing the South African Football Association

for allegedly offering him their national coaching position and

then giving it instead to the Portuguese Carlos Queiroz in

August.

Westerhof had been under pre-match pressure at Sundowns

after a series of surprise losses for the South African

champions but Mudau lifted the burden in front of a small crowd

at Pretoria's Loftus Versfeld rugby stadium.

The defeat was a bitter blow for Esperance, the most

successful side in African club competition over the last decade

and who had put in huge preparations for the match.

Africa Sports' second home win lifted them a point above

Esperance with Eric Babou, Hyacinthe Dadie and Adama Clofie Kone

scoring in the last 30 minutes against Sable de Batie.

Al Ahli's win on Friday night came as they announced the

recruitment of former Werder Bremen coach Hans-Jurgen Dorner as

their new coach.

Hossam Ghali scored after just three minutes but Jeanne

d'Arc were level six minute later through Mamadou Diallo.

It took Alaa Ibrahim and a late penalty from Ibrahim Said to

seal the win for Al Ahli and keep them mathematically in the

race, albeit a long shot against Hearts of Oak falling at the

final hurdle.