Stade Malien Secures Historic Qualification to Champions League Quarterfinals
All it took was one mistake, a single error by Yassine Meriah, who lost the ball to Traoré, for Coulibaly to score the winning goal in favor of Stade Malien. A goal against the run of play.
It took time for the "Sang et Or" to gradually get into the match. And even though they opted for an attacking game, Konaté's teammates had difficulty piercing the Malian defense, given that their opponent had chosen to be cautious, sometimes excessively so. A low block and quick counterattacks when the opportunity arose.
In fact, it wasn't until the 14th minute that the first "Sang et Or" attempt was seen: Konaté slipped in on the left, centered for Keita, who was unable to recover the ball, being closely watched.
Four minutes later, it was Keita's turn to center for Konaté, who failed to control the ball and consequently missed his shot. A huge miss, nonetheless, on the last line (18').
On the Malian side, they created danger towards the end of the initial period due to an error by Ben Hmida, who lost the duel with Diallo. The latter centered for Coulibaly, whose shot crashed against the crossbar (42').
And the two teams parted ways at halftime with a goalless draw.
In the second half, the Espérance team resumed the debate with a game still oriented towards the attack. The "Sang et Or" were even more enterprising. And while we were waiting for the long-awaited goal, Yassine Meriah committed a fatal error by losing the ball miserably to Traoré. The latter centered for Daouda Coulibaly, whose first shot was cleared by Ben Saïd, but the second found its way into the net (54').
In short, all it took was one mistake, a single one, for the Espérance defense to concede a goal against the run of play. Yassine Meriah thus allowed Stade Malien to secure a historic qualification to the Champions League quarterfinals. As for Espérance, they will host Petro Luanda next Saturday in a direct duel for qualification as the second team in Group D to the quarterfinals. Due to Meriah, the "Sang et Or" have complicated their task. And what a shame!
