The congested schedule of fixtures continues in Egyptian football but supporters of the country’s two major clubs, Al Ahly and Zamalek, are gearing up for Thursday’s final of the 2020-21 Egypt Cup which is finishing up after scheduling delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Regardless of the match congestion a matchup between the two is always highly anticipated and there is plenty to play for with a trophy at stake when the rivals meet at the Cairo International Stadium. Both teams will be looking to gain momentum for the final stretch of the 2021-22 Egyptian Premier League season.
Ahly have been struggling to find consistent form since the hiring of Portuguese manager Ricardo Soares at the end of June and are coming off a poor 2-0 defeat to Pyramids FC in league play, leaving them in third place and with plenty of work to do to cut into the nine-point gap league leaders Zamalek have on them. It appears that Ahly will be missing the services of a few regular players with al-Ahram reporting that right back Mohamed Hany will be unavailable along with attacking players Taher Mohamed and Hussein El-Shahat. With Percy Tau’s continued absence, Soares is likely to continue his hopes that physical striker Hossam Hassan can find his goal scoring touch up top.
Zamalek’s squad has been stretched due to an ongoing transfer ban as well as the departure of veteran midfielder Tarek Hamed to Saudi football but manager Jesualdo Ferreira has done an excellent job considering the circumstances. The defending champions lead Pyramids FC by four points and Ahly by nine points and continue to earn results even when their performance is not at the highest level. Ferreira is getting the best out the players available to him and is bringing along younger youth system graduates who are making important contributions. One of those younger players, 21-year-old defender Hossam Abdelmaguid, is likely to get another start for the big occasion.
More on the match is below from Egyptian media.
