FIFA Club World Cup: Ahly’s Bronze Worth Gold!

Just like the previous edition in 2020, Al Ahly have won bronze in the FIFA Club World Cup for the second consecutive year in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The two times African champions largely got their way against Asian champions Al Hilal (4-0) on Saturday. It was Al Ahly’s game for a third place in the competition, and they opened the scoring at the 8th minute of play. Ali Maaloul ran down the wings and sent a perfect cross which met Yasser Ibrahim’s head at close range and brought the score to 1-0. It was the perfect start for Al Ahly, who doubled their money through a Yasser Ibrahim brace to make it 2-0 at the 17th minute.

In the 26th minute, Ali Maaloul had a huge chance to score a third goal for Al Ahly, but his shot was off target. After 28 minutes, Al Hilal were already playing 9 against 11, following the expulsions of Matheus Pereira and Mohamed Kano. The Egyptians got chances to make things worse, through Aliou Dieng and Mohamed Sherif, but their third goal of the match instead came from Ahmed Abdelkader, in the 40th minute.

Al Ahly continued to miss chances, through Mohamed Sherif and Taher Mohamed, until the break eventually ended with a 3-0 lead in their favor.

In the second half, Al Ahly continued to dominate the game. A fourth goal was scored in the 64th minute thanks to Amr El-Sulya (4-0). Al Ahly thus recorded its biggest victory in a Club World Cup and won the bronze medal, as in 2006 and 2020.