Cape Town - Africa’s “Team of the Century” Al Ahly SC is desperate to finally chalk up a win in South Africa after five matches against the PSL’s perennial Premiership champions Mamelodi Sundowns.
Since 2001, Sundowns and Al Ahly have met at the CAF Champions League level, on a home and away basis. In that year, the first match was drawn, and hosts Al Ahly won the next.
After 2007, more than a decade passed before the teams met again and this time hosts Sundowns scored an emphatic 5-0 win at the Lucas “Masterpieces” Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville in 2019. It was the biggest win in match-ups between the two teams and the only time more than four goals were scored in a match.
Several matches went by over three seasons before Al Ahly again played in South Africa. In March 2022, Sundowns defeated Al Ahly 1-0 at the FNB Stadium. A few weeks earlier, Sundowns enjoyed a rare win in Cairo. The 2022 wins marked the only season in which Sundowns won both home and away matches.
Both Al Ahly Swiss-born coach Marcel Koller and director of football Sayed Abdel-hafiz are determined to see the Egyptians break their duck in Mzansi today.
“We have a difficult match ahead of us against a strong team, Mamelodi Sundowns,” said Koller, the man tasked with bringing trophies back to Egypt’s most successful club.
“They have a lot of experience through previous participation in the CAF Champions League, and the club has been maintaining the core of the team for some time.”
Koller’s problems are compounded by the team's growing injury list and at least five key players are in doubt for the 10-time CAF champions Al Ahly in Johannesburg.
The players in question are rightback Khaled Abdel Fattah, centre-back Mahmoud Metwally, midfielder Amr El Solia and wingers Hussein El Shahat and Ahmed Abdel Kader. Fattah and Metwally are key players in the team's strong defensive structure which is the foundation of Koller’s tactical set-up.
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Solia is an important player in Koller’s preferred 4-2-3-1 formation. He brings a good balance between attack and defence and is one of the two defensive midfielders that provide cover for the backline. He is excellent at breaking up opposition attacks and initiating counter-attacks.
After last week’s 3-0 win over Cameroonian side Coton Sport in their third group game of the season, Al Ahly’s Champions League campaign is back on track.
Anything less than a draw today could spell the end of Al Ahly's hopes of advancing beyond the group stages this season. Abdel-hafiz said the aim was to win against Sundowns.
“The next Sundowns game, we will go with only one goal, which is to achieve a positive result,” said Abdel-hafiz. “We hope that we can pick up a win because it will put us in another place.
“An essential win at a crucial time. We have no choice but to win after the Al Hilal loss and then a draw with Sundowns.
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“The Coton game was challenging in light of the group’s circumstances, but the qualification is still in our hands.
“In the last three Champions Leagues that we won (2013, 2020, and 2021), we faced the same difficulties in the group stage, and despite that, we qualified in the end.
“For example, in 2013, there were difficult circumstances and we had Zamalek with us in the same group, and drew in the opening game, and then lost to Orlando, but we qualified.”
Sundowns have a four-match unbeaten run against Al Ahly’s Red Devils, and on current form should keep that record intact after today’s clash.
@Herman_Gibbs