Wrote:
Omar Qura
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Wednesday 23 December 2020
1:35 AM
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Al-Ahly, champion of the African Champions League, will start the campaign to defend its title in the new edition of the 2020/2021 tournament with an easy confrontation against Sonideb, champion of Niger, by opening its matches in the most expensive continental tournament in the African continent.
Al-Ahly will meet Sonideb this afternoon, Wednesday, at four o’clock Cairo local time, at the General Cine Kunchi Stadium in the capital, Niamey, in the first leg of the 32nd round of the African Champions League.
Sunideep had surpassed Mogadishu’s Somali team in the preliminary round of the tournament with a score of 2-0 in aggregate, where the Nigerian champion won the first leg at home with a clean double, before tying in the second leg.
The inexperienced champion of Niger is competing in the CAF Champions League for the third time in his history, the third in a row after playing the 2019 and 2020 editions, but he bid farewell to the competition early on both occasions of the preliminary round.
As for the African champion, he hopes to take advantage of his positive local start and transform it at the continental level, by achieving a good result outside his stadium, which will facilitate his mission before the return match in Egypt, which is scheduled to take place on January 5 and 6.
The league title holder won the full mark in the first two matches in the Egyptian Premier League this season, by defeating the Egyptian teams Al-Maqsas (3-1) and Ghazl El Mahalla (3-0) in their two matches at the “Al-Ahly we Peace” stadium.
Al-Ahly suffers from numerous absences, as Amr Al-Soulia, Mohamed Magdi Afsha and Rami Rabia failed to leave the team’s mission in Niger due to the positive medical swab that the trio underwent and confirmed their infection with the Coronavirus.
Al-Sulaya, Afsha and Rabia joined the list of absentees from the match against the Nigerian champion, which includes Nigerian Junior Ajay, Nasser Maher, Marwan Mohsen and Walid Suleiman due to injury, and Hussein Al-Shahat due to suspension.
South African coach Pitso Musimane, Al-Ahly coach, will also be absent from the team in Niger, to continue his absence from the team for the second consecutive match and his assistant Kevin Johnson continues at the head of the coaching staff.
Musimani contacted the auxiliary apparatus and Kevin Johnson to set up the team’s last training program in Niger, and the formation that he will play against Sonideep.
Al-Ahly’s list consisted of: Muhammad Al-Shennawi, Ali Lotfi, Mustafa Schubert, Ahmed Ramadan Beckham, Mahmoud Wahid, Yasser Ibrahim, Mahmoud Kahraba, Hamdi Fathy, Muhammad Sharif, Ayman Ashraf, Badr Bannon, Ali Diang, Salah Mohsen, Ali Maaloul, Ahmed Yasser Rayan, Akram Tawfiq, Geraldo, Muhammad Hani, Taher Muhammad Taher, and Muhammad Shukri Saad Samir.
Al-Ahly won the title of the last edition of the African Champions League last November, after beating Zamalek with a score (2-1) in the final of the century, which was held at the Army Stadium in Burj Al Arab in Alexandria.
The African champion and the record holder in the number of times the championship with nine titles are seeking to achieve a good result in the kick-off of the new edition of the African Champions League, after snatching the title in the last version to regain the cup, which has been absent from its coffers for seven years.
It is worth noting that Al-Ahly’s mission returns at dawn on Thursday to Cairo after the completion of the Sonideb confrontation, so that the Red Genie prepares for the summit match against Zamalek next Monday in the fourth round of the Egyptian Premier League in the summit match hosted by the Burj Al Arab stadium in Alexandria.
Match Card:
The two teams: Sunideb and Al-Ahly.
Timing: Four o’clock in the afternoon Cairo local time.
The event: first leg of the 32nd CAF Champions League.
The stadium: General Seni Kunchi.
The carrier channel: Al-Ahly channel.
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