Al Ahly of Egypt has advanced to the semifinals of the FIFA Club World Cup for the sixth time in its history, following a 3-1 victory over Al Ittihad on Friday evening at the "Jewel" stadium in the second round of the tournament taking place in Saudi Arabia. Al Ahly avenged their previous loss to Al Ittihad in 2005, where they lost 1-0 in a similar match-up. This victory marks the first time an Egyptian team has defeated "The Tigers" in any official or friendly competition.
The three goals for Al Ahly were scored by Tunisia's Ali Maaloul from a penalty, Hussain El Shahat, and Imam Ashour in the 21st, 59th, and 62nd minutes, respectively, while Karim Benzema scored a consolation goal for Al Ittihad in the 45+2 minute. Al Ahly finished the match with 10 players after French substitute Anthony Modeste was sent off in the last minute.
Al Ahly will face Brazilian team Fluminense, the Copa Libertadores champion, on Monday in the semifinals, while Al Ittihad exited the tournament after the cancellation of the fifth-place match.
The winner of the match between Al Ahly and Fluminense will face the victor of the encounter between Manchester City and Japan's Urawa Red Diamonds in the final.
The match began thrillingly, with no period of gauging each other’s strengths, resulting in two dangerous chances in the first ten minutes. Al Ahly threatened first when Hussain El Shahat struck a powerful low shot from within the penalty area, which was cleared by compatriot Ahmed Hegazi from inside the six-yard box in the 5th minute. Romarinho responded with a chance for Al Ittihad in the 10th minute, where he took a fierce shot from a close distance, but captain Mohamed El Shenawy made an excellent save.
El Shahat then delivered a long through ball to Kahraba, which struck Hassan Kachash's arm inside the box, leading the referee to award a penalty to Al Ahly in the 20th minute. Maaloul, a specialist in set pieces for Al Ahly, successfully converted the penalty to ignite the match.
Karim Benzema received a cross from the right and shot, but El Shenawy held it firmly in the 37th minute. Imam Ashour responded a minute later with a shot from outside the box that was comfortably caught by Al-Ittihad's goalkeeper Majeed Al-Nassr.
In a similar turn of events for Al Ahly, the hosts were awarded a penalty just before the end of the first half when a cross struck Mohamed Abdel-Moneim's hand in the box. However, Benzema was unable to convert the penalty as El Shenawy successfully saved it.
The failure to convert their penalty shattered Al Ittihad's confidence, leading Hegazi to commit a critical error in front of the goal after passing a short ball to Al-Maiouf, which Kahraba nearly capitalized on, but the goalkeeper saved the situation just before the first-half stoppage time.
As the second half began, Al Ittihad made changes in their backline, substituting Ahmed Bamsoud for Zakaria Hawsawi on the left side as a tactical shift by Gallardo. Minutes later, Mounir Al-Shanqi suffered an injury and was replaced by Madallah Al-Olayan.
Al Ittihad pressed hard hoping to equalize early in the half and came close ten minutes in when Igor Coronado skillfully manipulated the defense and played a magical through ball that left Faisal Al-Ghamdi one-on-one with the goal, but his shot hit the right post after slipping through El Shenawy's legs.
Exploiting Al Ittihad's push forward, Al Ahly doubled their lead almost an hour into the match with a stunning strike from El Shahat, who found the left corner of the net, equalling Benzema's record of scoring in four different World Cup versions.
Just three minutes later, Al Ahly's dominance led to a third goal from Imam Ashour, who scored with a low shot from within the box.
Seeing no other option, Argentine coach Marcelo Gallardo threw all his attacking cards onto the pitch, bringing on Joao Felipe "Jota" and Abderrazak Hamdallah for Romarinho and Coronado in the 70th minute.
Meanwhile, Marcel Koller opted to refresh his squad to prevent exhaustion in the final fifteen minutes, introducing the trio of Karim Fouad, Amr El Solia, and Taher Mohamed Taher for El Shahat, Ashour, and Kahraba.
Al Ahly nearly increased their tally to 4, taking advantage of the spaces left in the hosts’ defense. Just before regular time ended, Percy Tau was through on goal but shot over the bar; however, the referee ruled the South African forward offside.
Modeste came on for Tau with three minutes left in regular time, but the French forward was sent off just four minutes later after punching Ahmed Hegazi in the face during an aerial contest.
Benzema managed to score a consolation goal in stoppage time, following up on a rebound from El Shenawy in the penalty area.
