It was all too easy for African champions Al Ahly as the Egyptian club took apart Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal by a 4-0 score to take home third place at the FIFA Club World Cup on Saturday. Ahly defender Yasser Ibrahim scored twice in the opening twenty minutes as Al-Hilal self destructed before Ahmed Abdelkader and Amr El Solia provided goals to complete the lopsided result.
Al-Hilal boasted plenty of star power in the attack but the Saudi club’s defense was completely missing on Saturday. Al Ahly took the lead within the opening ten minutes through Ibrahim when atrocious set piece marking allowed the defender to head in uncontested off an Ali Maâloul free kick service. A miserable opening fifteen minutes was complete for Al-Hilal after Brazilian playmaker Matheus Pereira committed a clumsy studs up challenge on El Solia for a straight red card.
Only a couple of minutes after Pereira’s dismissal, Ibrahim struck again. Ahly right back Mohamed Hany struck a low drive from 25 yards out that was saved by Al-Hilal goalkeeper Mohammed Al Owais, causing the ball to bounce up in front of the goal. Ibrahim was on hand to storm in and head into the goal as Al Owais could only tip the ball into the roof of his net.
Before a half hour of football was played, another poor decision cost Al-Hilal when midfielder Mohamed Kanno cynically kicked out at Ibrahim off the ball and was sent off following a Video Assistant Referee review. Ahly would go on to score one more before halftime by way of Abdelkader, who received a lay off from Maâloul and finished past Al Owais after an initial pass was blocked back to the midfielder.
El Solia finished off the scoring in the 64th minute following a short Al Ahly corner kick, taking the ball and rocketing a well struck effort from 30 yards out past Al Owais at his near post. Ahly could have scored more and Al-Hilal were fortunate to escape further humiliation as the Egyptian side will be satisfied with its third place finish.
A link to highlights of the match are below.
