Al Ahly and Auckland City faced each other this Wednesday afternoon, in a duel valid for the first phase of the Club World Cup de 2023. The Egyptian team won the match at the Tanger Stadium, in Morocco, by the score of 3 to 0. The goals were scored by Sherif, El Shahat and Tau.
Thus, Al Ahly qualified for the quarterfinals of the competition, where they will face Seattle Sounders, representative of Concacaf. The game is scheduled for this Saturday at 2:30 pm (Brasília time). Auckland, from Oceania, said goodbye to the tournament.
Even before the ball rolled, there was an opening ceremony for the competition and, afterwards, a tribute to King Pelé, who died on December 29, 2022. The event was even attended by coach Walid Regragui, who directed the Moroccan selection in the historic campaign of the last world Cupnot Qatar.
Officially representing the African continent, Al Ahly makes its eighth participation in the World Cup, the third consecutive. In the last edition, for example, the team faced palm trees in the semifinal, but ended up being eliminated – the previous year, he defeated Verdão on penalties and took third place.
The winner of the match between Seattle Sounders and Al Ahly will face the Real Madrid, European champion, in the semifinals. The Spanish club, as well as the Flamengodebut at the World Cup only in the semifinal stage.
The next teams to take the field for the Club World Cup are Wydad Casablanca and Al-Hilal, on Saturday, at 11:30 am. From there, Flamengo’s opponent will emerge in the semi-finals of the competition, scheduled for the next 7th.
How was the game?
Al Ahly was the one who started putting danger to the opponent’s goal, after 5 minutes. After Maaloul’s launch, Sherif appeared free between the defenders, but ended up sending it out. Auckland responded with 18′, when Tade cleared the scoring, but was stopped at the moment of finishing.
Abdelkader risked a shot placed at 25′, but the attempt was weak and goalkeeper Tracey defended without problems. At 36′, again the Egyptian team had a good opportunity, once again with Abdelkader. However, the attacker ended up being disarmed by the defense.
The goal came out in the first half, at 46 minutes. El Shahat received a pass on the edge of the area and corrected a long shot. The ball went through all the players and died in the back of the net.
Owner of the first stage, Al Ahly remained superior in the final time. With less than four minutes, Sherif was triggered and hit the post, but the bid had already been paralyzed for offside.
The team, however, extended the score at 10′. After a good interception in midfield, the team exchanged quick passes until the ball reached Sherif, in the back of the defense. The number 10 was face to face with Tracey and just took it from the goalkeeper to score the second, with category.
Al Ahly continued to pile up chances and, finally, increased the advantage in the 40th minute. After a good plot, Kahraba made a nice backheel and left Tau free. The attacker hit with a cavadinha to score a beautiful goal and guarantee the victory and the team’s classification.
There was still time for the Chinese referee Ning Ma to expel defender Adam Mitchell, from Auckland, for a hard tackle on Taner Mohamed, close to the area, already in stoppage time.
Source: Gazetaesportiva
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