Zamalek launches the African champions with a difficult Algerian confrontation
The Corona pandemic imposes itself as a heavy guest for the second season in a row on the activities of the African Champions League, which kicks off today in its fifty-seventh edition with the participation of 16 clubs in the group stage after the preliminary round ends.
Al-Ahly of Egypt won its ninth title on 27 November, boosting its record, at the expense of its traditional rivals Zamalek 2-1 at Cairo International Stadium.
All eyes are on Cairo International Stadium, where Zamalek, the runner-up of the last edition, begins a new attempt to win the sixth title in its history and the first since 2002, as it hosts the Algerian MCA in a fourth Hadidiya group that also includes Tunisian Esperance and Senegalese Tongeth.
The "White Castle" team realizes that the confrontation will be an indication of its career in the tournament, especially after it made changes to its squad that lost the final of the last version.
The club has preserved the Portuguese coach Jaime Pacheco, who will be based on a group of distinguished players, especially goalkeeper Mohamed Abu Jabal, to the strong defense line led by Hazem Emam and Mahmoud Hamdi Al-Wench, as well as Tunisian Ferjani Sassi and Moroccan wing Ashraf Bin Sharqi, Marawan Hamdi and Youssef Ibrahim "Obama".
The team's top scorer, Mustafa Muhammad, had moved to the professional stage with the Turkish Galatasaray.
For his part, Mouloudia suffers from technical instability, as the match will be the first for the team under the supervision of its new coach, Abdelkader Amrani, who replaced Nabil Nighiz after his contract was terminated by mutual consent. "The confrontation against Zamalek constitutes a strong challenge to my team, which I supervised." To train him in only two lessons, and we should be prepared and with a high degree of focus. "
He continued, "Zamalek is a very strong team and it is the leader of the Egyptian League, and we will set our technical plans after studying its strengths and weaknesses."
The Algerian team will miss former international midfielder Abdelmoumen Gabou due to illness, and striker Mehdi Ben Aljeya, but he has players with continental experience, such as striker Bilal Ben Saada.
Saturday, Rades Stadium will be the stage for the meeting between Esperance and its guest Tongeth.
The Senegalese team had set off a heavy surprise by ousting Morocco's Raja Casablanca from the round of 32.
The CAF postponed the meeting between Al-Ahly and its Sudanese guest, Al-Merrikh, in Group A, due to the Egyptian club's participation in the FIFA Club World Cup, where it will play the third-place match Thursday against Palmeiras, Brazil.
In the same group, he will meet the Congolese Democratic Vita Club, with his guest, Simba, Tanzania.
As for the impact of the pandemic, it was evident in the disruption of the match between Wydad Casablanca of Morocco and its guest Kaizer Chiefs of South Africa, as the Moroccan Federation directed a request to its African counterpart to "postpone the match or hold it in another country", at the request of the local authorities "due to the health safety associated with the recent developments of Covid 19 ".
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