The Egyptian team advanced to the second round of the FIFA tournament. (AFP)
Al-Ahly from Egypt opened the Club World Cup this Wednesday with a 3-0 win over Auckland City from New Zealand in the initial round of the tournament, which paid tribute to Pelé at the opening ceremony.
The image of the Brazilian legend, who died last December 29 at the age of 82, was projected in the center of the Tangier Stadium, in a sound and light show. During the ceremony he addressed a few words to the local public from the grass Walid Regraguithe selector who led Morocco to a historic fourth place in the World Cup in Qatar.
WOOOOOW ???? Tribute to the late Pelé ??????
? Club World Cup, Tanger ?? pic.twitter.com/LzfAtUIGso
— Nico Cantor (@Nicocantor1) February 1, 2023
In the next round, the al ahly will face Saturday Seattle Sounders of the United States, representative of the Concacaf. The winner of that pulse will be measured with the Real Madridon Wednesday 8, in the semifinals.
In today’s opening match, Al-Ahly opened the scoring through Hussein El Shahat (45 + 1 ‘) and in the second half they sentenced Mohamed Sherif (56 ‘) and the South African Percy Tau (86′).
Auckland finished with 10 players for the expulsion in the final discount (90+7′) by Adam Mitchell.
El Shahat became the fourth man to score in three different Club World Cupsjoining his name to the three stars: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Gareth Bale.
two classics
Traditionally, the first round match of the Club World Cup measures at oceania champion with the host country championwhich in this case is Morocco.
However, the winner of the last Moroccan league was the wydad casablancawhich was also the last africa champion, so he will go into action on Saturday directly in the second round. Auckland’s rival in the match that raised the curtain was then Al-Ahly, as current Africa runner-up.
oh@AlAhly ?? beat the @AucklandCity_FC ?? and is in the second round of the #ClubWC!
This Saturday he will face @SoundersFC_ES. ??
— FIFA World Cup ? (@fifaworldcup_es) February 1, 2023
The duel between Al-Ahly and Auckland put two ‘classic’ teams in the Club World Cup face to face, with eight and ten (record) appearances, respectively.
Al-Ahly’s best results in the competition were the third places achieved three times (2006 and in the two previous editions, those corresponding to 2020 and 2021).
With their defeat, Auckland, coached by the Spanish Albert Riera, already says goodbye to the tournament, unable to come close to their best role, the third place they signed in 2014, in the last Club World Cup played in Morocco before the current one.
The competition follows the Saturday with the two quarterfinal duels (second round), first in Rabat (11:30) with the clash between wydad casablanca and the Al Hilal Saudiand then with the pulse Seattle Sounders-Al Ahlyagain in Tangier (2:30 p.m.).
