Zamalek Club won a championship African Super Cup For the fifth time in its history, by defeating its arch-rival Al-Ahly (4-3) on penalties after the end of regular time in a positive draw with a goal to the same, for the match of the 33rd edition of the tournament.
The match went to penalty kicks for the tenth time in the history of the Super Cup, and the White Knight prevailed twice, as he had won the title in 1997 against the Arab Contractors, and was crowned champion twice against Al-Ahlyafter the 1994 version.
This is also the second time in a row that Al-Ahly, the champion, has lost CAF Champions League– African Super Championship after last season at the hands of USM Algiers.
Why did Al-Ahly appear so bad offensively?
Al-Ahly coach Marcel Kohler continued to rely on the 4/3/3 system by maintaining his lineup, especially his attacking line consisting of Hussein El-Shahat, Percy Tau, and striker Wissam Abu Ali.
But Percy Tau and Al-Shahat were completely far from Abu Ali by always being on both sides, which made the Palestinian striker alone in the middle of Zamalek’s attack, with Imam Ashour’s poor level in the spaces in the final third, because they were not available to him.
Al-Ahly sent only 4 crosses in the match, since there was only Wissam Abu Ali in the penalty area, but that was credited to the midfield of the Zamalek stadium because he was preventing the midfield of the Al-Ahly stadium from finding those spaces. The only time the Al-Ahly duo found space was in Penalty kick.
Jose Gomez changes
Zamalek coach Jose Gomez made two changes in the second half, with the duo Nasser Mansi entering as a striker at the expense of Saif El-Din Al-Jaziri, who is far from his level, and the new striker Omar Farag, and in his first touch, Mansi succeeded in scoring the equalizing goal.
Mansi’s change was successful by scoring from the first touch, and he made another vertical attempt later. On the other hand, Kohler’s changes were incomprehensible, as Marwan Attia’s exit was not appropriate as he was the only player in the center position.
Akram Tawfiq had a yellow card, and Kouka is not accustomed to playing in this position, especially at a time when Zamalek had great possession of the ball.
The physical factor is in favor of Zamalek
It became clear that Zamalek was in full physical readiness throughout the match, unlike Al-Ahly players who were at their worst, especially in the last quarter of the match. They failed in duels and some players could not run much.
While Al-Ahly’s performance declined during the second half, Zamalek was physically present and maintained control over the match, and in the second half the performance of its star Ahmed Sayed Zizo improved, who had more attempts in the second half.
It must be known that this is due to the important preparation of Jose Gomez, as he is originally a fitness coach, and his ability to make the players fully ready is due to how he prepares.
Gomez wins with his style and personality
Many opinions came out before the match calling for changes at the squad level, with Mohamed Shehata entering alongside Dunga, dispensing with Nasser Maher, and placing Abdullah Al-Saeed in position No. (10).
However, to the credit of the Zamalek coach, he maintained the midfield combination completely, and the other most important decision was to choose Mahmoud Bentaek as a left back and not Mohamed Hamdy, as Bentaek is a natural left back who can play in a defensive four plan, unlike Hamdy, who plays with Enppi as a “wing back” in a 3-way system. 5-2.
Gomez is always credited with maintaining his style against Koller with a variety of approaches between possession and direct play. He beat Koller in two matches and lost in the Egypt Cup final, in a match in which Zamalek was also the better side.
