Al-Ahly overcomes on penalty shoot-outs, and Al-Wednesday meets Real Madrid… Pachuca is champion of the Challenge Cup

Mark
Written By Mark

Mexico’s Pachuca was crowned champion of the FIFA Challenge Cup in the Confederations Cup after defeating Al-Ahly of Egypt, 6-5, on penalty shoot-out, in the match that was held yesterday evening at Stadium 974, in the presence of more than 39,000 spectators. With this victory, Pachuca qualifies to meet Spanish Real Madrid, the European champion, in the final of the Confederations Cup (Intercontinental) next Wednesday at Lusail Stadium. After the end of the match, His Excellency Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani, Minister of Sports and Youth, Infanito, President of FIFA, and Hany Abu Raida, President of the Egyptian Football Association, crowned Pachuca with the Challenge Cup and gold medals.
Despite Pachuca’s victory, Al-Ahly was the better side for most of the match, as it controlled the course of the match and forced the Mexican team to retreat to the defense. Mohamed El-Shenawy, Al-Ahly’s goalkeeper, excelled and saved two penalty kicks, but the misses of three penalty kicks by Mahmoud Kahraba, Amr Kamal, and Khaled Abdel Fattah eliminated the Egyptian team’s hopes of qualifying for the final.
Al-Ahly started the match strongly and dominated the first half, as it was the most dangerous against Pachuca’s goal. The first opportunity came in the 11th minute when Taher Mohamed Taher shot a strong ball that the goalkeeper caught with difficulty twice.
Despite Al-Ahly’s field superiority, the team did not succeed in exploiting the opportunities it was given. In the 37th minute, Taher missed a great opportunity from a perfect cross played by Wissam Abu Ali, as he shot the ball over the crossbar while the goal was completely empty.
On the other hand, Pachuca relied on counter-attacks, and almost scored in the 23rd minute when Osama Al-Idrissi dribbled past the defense and shot a ball that hit the defenders’ feet, reaching Salomon Rondon, who knocked it over the crossbar.
The second half was less intense from a technical standpoint, with Al-Ahly continuing to control without creating dangerous opportunities. The most notable attempt of the half was in the 60th minute when Hussein Al-Shahat sent a cross that reached Yahya Attiya Allah, who shot the ball directly over the crossbar.
In the 84th minute, Pachuca almost snatched the victory with a powerful shot from Al-Idrissi, but El-Shenawy blocked it brilliantly.
The two teams headed to extra time, which saw three chances achieved, but they did not result in goals:
In the 98th minute, Angel Mina was alone in Al-Ahly’s goal, but the defense was able to catch up with him and forced him to shoot near the post.
In the 105th minute, Kahraba missed a golden opportunity when he was alone with the goalkeeper, but he lost control of the ball at the last moment.
In the 119th minute, Rondon sent a powerful header that went inches over the crossbar.

“Penalty shootout: Mexican decision”
The two teams resorted to penalty kicks to decide the match. Although El-Shenawy excelled by saving two penalty kicks, the failure of Al-Ahly players to score three kicks gave Pachuca victory and qualification to the final.
With this victory, Mexican Pachuca advanced to the final match to face Real Madrid, while Al-Ahly left the tournament with honor after a distinguished performance despite the loss. The match reaffirmed the importance of offensive effectiveness and exploiting opportunities, especially in decisive matches.

Guillermo Amada: Qualifying for the final is an indescribable feeling

Pachuca’s Mexican coach, Guillermo Amada, expressed his great happiness with his team’s victory over Al-Ahly of Egypt, winning the Challenge Cup, and qualifying for the Intercontinental Cup final next Wednesday against Spanish Real Madrid.
He said, “We are very happy to qualify for the final of the tournament, as it is an indescribable feeling after defeating a difficult opponent with the value of Al-Ahly, the “African champion.” We maintained defensive solidity, and the sacrifice and defensive and tactical commitment contributed to achieving victory and reaching the final.
He added, “Facing Real Madrid is not easy, but very difficult because we are facing the European champion, which has distinguished players at the global level, but we will try to recover and we will play with all enthusiasm and strength to show a distinctive face like our level in the last two matches.”

Kohler: We didn’t celebrate early

Swiss coach Marcel Kohler, coach of Al-Ahly of Egypt, expressed his great sadness after losing to Mexican Pachuca and not meeting Spanish Real Madrid in the Confederations Cup final. The coach said in statements after the match: “The team did not celebrate early after scoring two penalty kicks, but our focus was high. As for the match, we created many chances in the 90 minutes in addition to extra time, but they were not exploited.”
He added, “The players who scored the penalty kicks had high concentration, which led to scoring the penalty kicks, while the players who missed showed tension and nervous tension.”

Osama Idrissi: We crossed a large team

Osama Idrissi, a Moroccan professional with the Mexican team Pachuca, expressed his great happiness over his team’s victory over Al-Ahly of Egypt and qualifying for the final of the Confederations Cup for Clubs.
He said, “A wonderful and distinctive victory over a difficult team with the value of Al-Ahly, who is accustomed to participating in such tournaments and has great African experience, in addition to the fact that he was more comfortable with us, in addition to the large presence of his fans in the match, but despite the difficulty of the match, we succeeded in winning and qualifying for the final and meeting the Spanish Real Madrid.”
He added, “Luck was not with us at the beginning with the penalty shootout, but after that we remedied the situation and succeeded in scoring while Al-Ahly missed, which contributed to achieving the victory.”

Hassan Rabia Al Kuwari: We are living in a World Cup atmosphere

Hassan Rabia Al Kuwari, Executive Director of Commercial Affairs, Marketing and Events at the Local Organizing Committee of the Confederations Cup for Clubs, confirmed that the final of the tournament will be on time.
He said, “Organizational processes are going well in the tournament, and currently we have the final remaining on Wednesday at Lusail Stadium between Real Madrid and Pachuca, on an important day for us as Qataris on National Day, in addition to the anniversary of the 2022 Qatar World Cup final, which was the best in history.” He added, “The tickets for the final match are still on the website, and I hope that the fans will hurry to buy tickets and not wait until the last hours before the final confrontation of the tournament, indicating that the World Cup atmosphere in the tournament brought back memories of the 2022 World Cup for everyone.”

Al-Ahly fans: “With our soul and our blood, we will redeem you, Palestine.”

The Egyptian Al-Ahly fans were keen to raise the flags of the sister State of Palestine in stands 974 during the match and also outside the match stadium, in addition to the chants chanted by the Al-Ahly fans. The crowds also chanted, “With our soul and our blood, we will redeem you, O Palestine.”

38,841 fans attended

The number of fans attending the match between Al-Ahly and Mexico’s Pachuca in the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup at 974 Stadium yesterday was 38,841 fans.