Al Ahly overcomes embezzlement, wins Monterrey and takes Palmeiras at the World Cup

Al Ahly will be Palmeiras’ opponent in the Brazilian team’s debut at the 2022 Club World Cup. The Egyptian team overcame embezzlement, beat Mexican Monterrey 1-0, this Saturday (5), and advanced to the semifinals of the competition.

The match between Palmeiras and Al Ahly will take place on Tuesday (8), at 1:30 pm (GMT), with broadcast by Band. In the other group of the World Cup, English Chelsea awaits the winner of the match between Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia) and Al Jazira (United Arab Emirates), which takes place this Sunday (6).

Last year, Palmeiras lost the semifinal of the tournament to Mexican Tigres, Monterrey’s biggest rival. In the dispute for third place, the São Paulo team was defeated by Al Ahly on penalties, after a goalless draw in regulation time.

This Saturday, Al Ahly surpassed the favorite Monterrey even with important absences. The Egyptian team arrived in the United Arab Emirates without ten players, all playing in the African Cup of Nations.

Only two of them arrived in the country in time to face Monterrey: winger Ali Maâloul, who was with the Tunisian team, eliminated in the quarterfinals, and forward Aliou Dieng, from Mali, also out of contention. The other athletes are from the Egypt national team, which on Thursday (3) advanced to the final of the competition.

In a balanced confrontation, side Hany scored the only goal of the game at the beginning of the second half. The player took advantage of Argentine goalkeeper Andrada’s rebound and kicked hard from the edge of the area to open the scoring.

At a disadvantage, Monterrey stayed longer in the attacking field, but brought little danger to the Egyptian team’s goalkeeper. Al Ahly, in turn, threatened to widen with quick counterattacks and squandered chances to make the advantage wider.

Defeated, the Mexican club bids farewell to the dream of advancing to the decision for the first time after reinforcements and financial efforts made in recent years, especially with the contribution made by its biggest investor, FEMSA.

The multinational helped the Mexican team to invest 76.4 million euros (R$ 455.2 million) in reinforcements for the squad in the last four years, according to the website Transfermarkt.

Against Palmeiras, Al Ahly will try to reach the final for the first time. The Egypt team has two third places as their best results, obtained in 2006 and 2020.