Egyptian side Pyramids FC continued their dream campaign after sealing a place in the final of the CAF Confederation Cup for the first time ever, after two late goals saw them beat Guinean side Horoya 2-0 at the Mohamed V Stadium in Casablanca, Morocco on Tuesday 20 October.
Substitute Ibrahim Hassan and skipper Abdullah El Said scored 60 seconds apart as the Egyptians finally broke down a resilient Horoya to book a final slot against Moroccan side RS Berkane on Sunday.
The Egyptian side totally dominated the opening half, having the lion share of possession and restricting Horoya into their own half.
Pyramids had their first chance of the game after 17 minutes when Mohamed Farouk let fly from distance but Horoya keeper Moussa Camara proved equal to the task with a brilliant save.
Farouk tested Camara again two minutes later with another shot from distance, but it was also dealth with.
Pyramids kept pushing and they came very close to the opener in the 36th minute. A good passing move by Pyramids saw Eric Traore cut the ball back for Omar Gaber but his shot was cleared off the line by Lamine Fofana.
Horoya started the second half with purpose, dominating possession and spreading the play with the Egyptians playing catch up. Their efforts were nearly undone on the hour mark after Eric Traore seemed to have been brought down inside the box by Abou Camara and the Ethiopian referee Tessema Bamlak initially pointed to the spot. But after consulting the pitch-side monitor for a VAR check, Bamlak overturned the decision.
However Pyramids were ahead 14 minutes later when Egyptian striker Ibrahim Hasan slotted in the opener barely two minutes after coming on. The striker who won the title with Zamalek last season had just come on for John Antwi before he raced to a through ball and squeezed it past the keeper.
One minute later, they were 2-0 up when skipper El Said scored a super goal with a sweetly taken curling effort from the left after turning his markers inside out.
Horoya thought they had halved the deficit with five minutes left, but Alseny Camara’s goal was chalked off by the VAR after he was adjudged to have received the ball from an offside position.
Pyramids defended astutely to ensure they continued their fairy tale run in the competition, going all the way to the final in their first ever continental campaign.
They will face Moroccan side RS Berkane in the final after they beat Hassania Agadir 2-1 in an all Moroccan semi-final in Rabat on Monday 19 October. Berkane are in their second successive Confederation Cup final after losing to Zamalek on penalties in last season’s final.