Al Ahly achieved third place in the Club World Cup after beating Urawa Red Diamons 4-2 at the Prince Abdullah al-Faisal Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The Egyptians thus repeated the bronze medal they obtained three times (2006, 2020 and 2021), in the match that served as a prelude to the grand final between Fluminense and Manchester City.
The Japanese came out more alert at the beginning of the duel, but the first to hit was the African champion. At 19′ Mohamed Hany took a long-distance shot with effect and goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa left a long rebound that Yasser Ibrahim took advantage of to push it alone, without resistance.
Emboldened by the goal, six minutes later the Egyptians increased the score. A blunder at the back of the Japanese team allowed the Africans to steal the ball and leave Percy Tau alone in front of the goalkeeper. The South African did not forgive and made it 2-0 with his left foot.
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The forecast was for a win, although that disappeared at 19′ when José Kanté put the score on the ball by catching a ball that floated due to a bad clearance. A good way to say goodbye for the forward born in Spain and with appearances in the Guinea National Team, the nationality of his father, who has already announced his retirement at the end of this season.
Urawa Red achieved a partial tie in the second half through a penalty exchanged for a goal at 54′ by Danish center back Alexander Scholz and although Al Ahly managed to take the lead again at 63′ with a header after a free kick, the both was correctly disallowed for offside.
After so much searching, the Egyptians now managed to take the lead through an own goal by Yoshio Koizumi in the 60th minute. Fifteen minutes later, goalkeeper Nishikawa blocked a penalty taken by Maâloul that would have given the African champions the peace of mind that finally came when that same footballer put definitive numbers with a victory in the last play of the match.
