article: On Friday John Toshack takes his current side, Moroccan club Wydad Casablanca, to Egypt to face Zamalek in the first leg of their African Champions League semi-final. Toshack was a legendary player for Cardiff City, Liverpool and Wales and, as a manager, won a Spanish league title with Real Madrid and led Swansea City from the bottom division to the summit of English football. Now his Moroccan adventure is proving a successful sojourn in what the 67-year-old admits is the autumn of his sporting life. After managing teams in the footballing outposts of Macedonia and Azerbaijan, Toshack is enjoying a new lease of life in Casablanca. "I've been very fortunate in my career, but this one is something extra really," he tells BBC Wales Sport. "If someone said you would be managing going on 68 I would never have thought so. "It came out of the blue, it's another country and another continent and things are going really well." After taking charge in June 2014, he led Wydad to the Moroccan title in his first campaign and followed that up with the runners-up spot last season to secure African Champions League football. Toshack admits the foray into African football has come as a surprise even for a man of his formidable experience. It has not just been footballing matters either. The Cardiff-born former striker has been left amazed by the vast distances he and his team have had to cover across the continent as they have progressed through the tournament. And Toshack admits if his side were to lift the trophy next month, it would rank right up there with everything he has achieved in his career. But although Friday's game is just the first leg of the semi-final - with the pair meeting again back in Morocco on September 24 - the former Wales boss has also hinted that lack of progress could see him bring the curtain down on his African adventure and perhaps his life in football all together. "It's been very different and interesting," says Toshack. "We've travelled to Egypt, the Ivory Coast, to Madagascar, to Zambia, in a competition which to win we have to play 16 matches. When we went to Zambia we were away for eight days. "The (Morocco) Federation is good, we don't have to play for a week after a game, but it does cause problems. "We are in September and not played a league game yet - we are already three games behind everyone else. "To be honest, if we can win this, for various reasons it would have to go down as one of the most successful periods of my career. There have just been so many things we have had to adapt to. "If things go wrong here, like they could easily do, I'm not sure I would have the patience again to turn things around. "To be honest, we'll see how we do in these semi-finals and then that would be a good time to sit down and take stock." Apart from his six years as manager of Wales,
summary: The ancient Egyptian port of Alexandria has seen many historic events, and it might be about to witness the final throes of one of Wales' most illustrious sporting careers.