Viewers of the 2022 FIFA Club World Cup third place match between Egypt’s Al Ahly and South American champions Flamengo of Brazil were treated to a thrilling match but Al Ahly fell short in the end by a 4-2 score. A brilliant match from Ahly forward Ahmed Abdelkader saw him score two goals and give the Egyptian giants a 2-1 lead but a 70th minute red card to Khalid Abdullfatah set the stage for Flamengo to storm back and overcome Ahly. The Cairo club finishes the competition in fourth place after providing stern challenges to Flamengo as well as European champions Real Madrid.
The action picked up quickly following the kick off with Flamengo being awarded a penalty kick by the Video Assistant Referee after Ahly left back Ali Maâloul tripped up Flamengo right back Guillermo Varela. Flamengo’s Gabriel Barbosa made no mistake and sent Ahly goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy the wrong way to open the scoring with his spot kick.
Ahly responded before halftime with improved play and found the leveler on the 37 minute mark. A corner kick service from Maâloul found Abdelkader at the near post, who snuck in past poor defending to bounce his header past Flamengo goalkeeper Santos. Before the hour mark Ahly was the team to benefit from a VAR decision when Mohamed Sherif was dragged down in the Flamengo penalty area, but Santos came up with a big save to deny Maâloul from the spot.
Only a couple minutes later, however, Ahly found the goal they wanted when excellent work from Taher Mohamed down the right wing led to the ball finding Abdelkader on the opposite flank. The forward cut inside past a couple of defenders before finishing low past Santos and Ahly were in the lead.
Five minutes later Ahly were down to ten players when Flamengo left back Ayrton Lucas was tripped up by Abdullfatah. Initially ruled a penalty kick, VAR determined that Ayrton was tripped up outside the box and that Abdullfatah’s foul denied a clear goal scoring opportunity resulting in a straight red card for the Ahly defender. Soon after Mohamed Sherif failed to put his team up two after Abdelkader got out on the counter attack and set up the Ahly forward for a shot that went right at Santos.
Ahly paid the price three minutes later after El Shenawy came out to play a lofted pass into his penalty area and spilled the ball, allowing Pedro to loop his finish into the empty net. The collapse continued for Ahly with an unfortunate handball in their box committed by Mohamed Hany, allowing Gabriel Barbosa to once again send El Shenawy the wrong way on the resulting penalty kick after yet another VAR review. Ahly’s capitulation was complete in stoppage time when a disastrous back pass from Aliou Dieng went right to Pedro who finished past El Shenawy to put Flamengo beyond reach.
Highlights from the match are in the link below from FIFA TV.
