The Moroccan Raja team survived a heavy loss once morest Al-Ahly of Egypt, on Saturday evening, in the first leg of the quarter-finals of the African Champions League.
The Moroccan team returned from the Egyptian capital “Cairo” with minimal damage, losing 1-2, before the return meeting between the two teams resumed next Friday in “Casablanca”.
Al-Ahly’s goals, Amr Al-Sulayya and Hussein Al-Shahat, scored in the 13th and 23rd minutes, while Mohamed Zuraida scored the guests’ only goal in stoppage time in the first half.
Successful bet and white blocks
South African Pitso Mosimane, Al-Ahly coach, changed his plan, and started the match in a 4-4-2 manner, and his bet was very successful, as he dominated the match at the level of possession and creating dangerous opportunities.
The Egyptian giant took advantage of the weakness of the right front of Raja, which was occupied by Marwan Al-Hadhoudi and Mohamed Al-Makazy, as the latter inflicted a penalty kick as a result of a handball, which Al-Sulayya successfully translated into the net.
After that, Al-Ahly missed opportunities to achieve wholesale for Muhammad Sharif, Percy Tao and Amr Al-Soliya, and thanks to the white glove, Anas Al-Zeniti, the Raja goalkeeper, who saved his team from a heavy loss in the first half.
Muhammad Zuraida also removed a ball from the goal line, unlike another opportunity missed by Ahmed Abdel Qader.
green confusion
Rachid Al-Taousi, coach of Raja, lost control of his players throughout the first half, and did not benefit from his attacking keys, Mohsen Metwally, Abdelilah Madkour and Hamid Haddad.
The Moroccan team was helpless at the offensive level, and disjointed at the level of the midfield and defense, but in contrast to the course and rhythm of the match, Abdelilah Madkour launched the ball from the right side, and played it cross, Zuraida completed with his foot in the net of El-Shennawy, scoring the first goal in perfect timing.
red recklessness
Al-Ahly players became nervous over time, so that the trio Diang, Percy Tao and Hussein Al-Shahat received 3 yellow cards, so Diang left to replace Hamdi Fathi.
Raja’s defensive confusion continued in the second half, as Mohamed Sharif wasted a complete save by Al-Zeniti, and the ball rebounded to Hussein Al-Shahat to hit the empty goal, but Al-Hadhudi kept it away with his hand.
The referee awarded a penalty kick, and El Hadhoudi received a red card, so that Raja completed the match with ten players since the 60th minute, but Al-Sulayya refused the gift this time, as Al-Zeniti (Man of the Match) saved the penalty kick.
One last chance
Musimani changed his plan to 4-2-3-1, and replaced Muhammad Majdi Qafsha, Walid Suleiman, Taher Muhammad, and then Mahmoud Waheed in the place of Muhammad Sharif, Shahat, Muhammad Abdel Moneim and Ayman Ashraf.
However, the series of missed opportunities continued without interruption, as Walid Suleiman, Ahmed Abdelkader and Mahmoud Waheed approached the Moroccan goal with more than one attempt, while Percy Tau missed the most dangerous opportunity following penetrating the depth of the Raja defense, but he hit the ball over the crossbar.
As for Al-Tausi, he made more than one switch to activate the ranks in light of the numerical shortage, and to break the fast pace of Al-Ahly, where Zakaria Al-Habti, Abdel-Jalil Jubeira and Ayoub Shaboud participated from the bench.
The referee counted 5 minutes of added time, during which each team almost stabbed the other in the heart.
Ayoub Shaboud wasted a complete one-on-one with El-Shennawy’s goal in the 94th minute, and in the last seconds, El-Zeniti saved his goal from a goal by Taher Mohamed.
