Star goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy will captain Egyptian giants Al Ahly Friday when they attempt to reverse the recent trend of underdogs winning the annual CAF Super Cup match.
African Champions League title-holders Ahly are favoured to lift the trophy at the expense of Confederation Cup winners Renaissance Berkane of Morocco in Doha.
Qatar, who next year will become the first Middle East country to stage the World Cup, signed a three-year contract to host the Super Cup match from 2019. The match will take place at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium with kick-off at 7pm. In line with Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) measures, the stadium’s capacity will be limited to 30% to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Only fully vaccinated people and those who have recovered from Covid-19 in the last nine months will be permitted to attend the match. The clubs had to arrive in Doha 72 hours before the match and were placed in bio-bubbles – the first time CAF have taken this step since the coronavirus pandemic spread to Africa early last year.
Changing the venue from the ground of Champions League winners to Doha led to successive victories for the winners of the second-tier Confederation Cup, the African equivalent of the UEFA Europa League.
Champions Esperance of Tunisia lost to Zamalek of Egypt in 2019 and to Raja Casablanca of Morocco in 2020 – a dramatic change after winners of the marquee competition had triumphed in 21 of the previous 23 games.
But it would be a shock if an Ahly team stacked with stars, including El Shenawy, Moroccan centre-back Badr Banoun, midfielder Mohamed ‘Afsha’ Magdy and forward Mohamed Sherif, failed to lift the trophy.
Ahly’s South African coach Pitso Mosimane called it a ‘50-50 game’ with both teams having ‘equal chance’ of victory. “We know RS Berkane is a very strong team and they have a good new coach and talented players. They are always doing well on the international scene and we respect them very much. This is a final so it’s a 50-50 game and both sides have an equal chance to win the cup,” he said yesterday.
“For us, we want to win, and we must work well to achieve that. During the past weeks we had many tough games in the league and in the CAF Champions League, in addition to many travels. We will make sure to be well prepared. Maybe we are physically tired, but we are mentally ready. Every match comes with its pressure. Al Ahly is always expected to win, and we want to do that and make our supporters at home happy,” Mosimane added.
The Cairo Red Devils have won the Super Cup a record six times with Zamalek (four titles) and TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo (three) the next most successful sides. Ahly are much further ahead when it comes to all CAF competitions, winning 20 titles, nine more than Zamalek and Mazembe.
They travelled to Doha after qualifying for the 2021 Champions League semi-finals last weekend with a 3-1 aggregate victory over Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa. Berkane were shock casualties in the 2021 Confederation Cup group phase, failing to qualify for the quarter-finals after coming third behind JS Kabylie of Algeria and Coton Sport of Cameroon in Group B.
The side that beat Coton in a dead-rubber final group game contained only five survivors from the 2020 Confederation Cup final in which they edged Pyramids of Egypt 1-0 in Rabat.
There has also been change of coaches with Moroccan Tarik Sektioui being replaced by Spaniard Juan Pedro Benali, who joined Berkane after guiding three other clubs in the north African kingdom. Berkane rely heavily on Moroccans with two Burkina Faso stars, defender Issoufou Dayo and forward Djibril Ouattara, adding an international flavour.
Benali said his side did not fear Ahly and said Berkane will have chances too in the game. “This is a final between two big teams. We know Al Ahly very well and they are one of the biggest teams in Africa. But this is a football game that will be played on the pitch and we are waiting for it,” he said.
“In football there are no surprises. We will play a game of 90 minutes and possibly penalties and let’s see who wins afterwards. If we thought that our win was a surprise we would not have come here. We respect Al Ahly much, but there is no place for fear. This is a football game, and we have our chances too. We will be prepared for everything,” the Spaniard added.