It wasn’t a completely heartbreaking weekend for Egyptian football.
The national team may have lost the African Cup of Nations final against Senegal in a penalty shootout, always the worst way to lose, but Al-Ahly rolled, almost unnoticed, into the semifinal of the FIFA Club World Cup.
On Tuesday evening in Abu Dhabi, the Cairo giants will take on South American champions Palmeiras.
At stake is a place in a final that would be especially mouthwatering as it would come either against European title-holders Chelsea, the glamor tie, or what would be an epic all-Arab showdown against Saudi Arabian powerhouse Al-Hilal.
Beating Monterrey 1-0 on Saturday was an impressive feat. The five-time Mexican and CONCACAF champions are no strangers to this global tournament, finishing in third place twice — the same number of times as the North Africans. Mohamed Hany scored the only goal of the game eight minutes into the second half with a well-taken shot from the edge of the area. It was a game that Al-Ahly deserved to win with a slick and professional performance that gave the healthy contingent of Egyptian fans at the Al-Nahyan Stadium plenty to cheer about.
What is even more impressive is that the Red Giants were severely weakened. As the best team in Africa, who would have probably won a sixth successive Egyptian title last season had they not been busy with continental commitments, they have a healthy international contingent. Al-Ahly sent seven players to the African Nations Cup and are also battling with injuries, too, losing star South African striker Percy Tau.
Coach Pitso Mosimane expressed his dissatisfaction with the scheduling situation. “If Caf and Fifa can arrange games on top of one other, it’s amazing,” the South African boss said. “It’s unbelievable how this happens. It’s like nobody knew when the (Africa) Cup of Nations was, and when the Fifa Club World Cup was.”
“Africa will always be compromised when it comes to this,” he added, pointing to the fact that the Brazilians are given a bye into the last four. “We have to play Palmeiras who are rested. The scale is not proper (balanced) when it comes to Africa and Europe. But it’s a fact. We can hide from it, or try not to talk about it — but it’s a fact, it’s there.”
Mosimane, who has been one of the most impressive and successful coaches in world football in recent years, has a point in everything he said. All know that the reason the South Americans go straight into the semi-final is because they want to be equal to the European champions, who have often been lukewarm about the tournament and would not countenance another game in the middle of their domestic seasons.
A full-strength Al-Ahly can beat Palmeiras because they did just that a year ago in Qatar. The two teams met in the third/fourth place game. It ended 0-0 but the Africans won 3-2 on penalties. Tuesday could see another low-scoring game involving an Egyptian team at an international tournament.
The national side came within a penalty shootout of winning an eighth African title but it wasn’t pretty. Under Carlos Queiroz, the Pharaohs were well organized and ground their way to the final, scoring just four goals in seven games, all but three of which lasted for two hours. The tactics came very close to delivering huge success. Al-Ahly certainly have an excuse for going down a similar route and taking a leaf out of the Egyptian AFCON playbook. “Monterrey are good, they play well,” said Mosimane. “But we were a little bit organized — we frustrated them. We played a bit on the counterattack, let’s be honest.”
That is what Palmeiras are expecting. “Football has a lot to do with the organization and the desire,” coach Abel Ferreira said. “We saw a very well-organized team against Monterrey. Ahly knows very well what they do between the four lines and they compete to win.
“If Ahly beat Monterrey when all of you said they didn’t have their full side, that’s a sign of a warning for us,” added the Portuguese boss. “Ahly has presented the quality they represent. They won by one goal that day but it could have been more, in my opinion, and that clearly shows the quality of this team.”
Six members of the Egyptian team arrived in Abu Dhabi straight from Cameroon on Monday but Mosimane has declared that none will start against the South American champions. “It’s not easy to start the Palmeiras match with the international players, I will not sacrifice them and their physical condition, which is not clear to us until now,” he said. “We have to trust the players that we have, but also the international players are with us and we cannot risk any of them.”
It could be another pragmatic performance and it is to be hoped that the watching world does not come to the conclusion that Egyptian football is always this way.
Al-Ahly have a long and proud history and getting to the final would be another big moment, especially given the challenging circumstances and, after a difficult few days, it would put a smile back on the face of Egyptian football.