2023-07-23 21:56:00
A first appearance of “Benzema Al-Ittihad” in the Arab Championship … and a “Tunisian Derby” is expected
Arab football fans are awaiting the launch of the King Salman Cup for Arab Clubs, which will be hosted by Saudi stadiums from July 27 to August 12 in the stadiums of the cities of Abha, Taif and Al-Baha.
The tournament includes, in its current stages, 16 Arab clubs, which were divided into four groups, each group includes 4 clubs, playing with each other in a one-round tournament, so that the first and second of each group qualify for the quarter-finals, which is held in a knockout manner until the final match.
Asharq Al-Awsat sheds light on the competitions of the first round, specifically the first group, which includes the Saudi Federation, the Tunisian Esperance, the Tunisian Sfaxien and the Iraqi police.
* How will Benzema’s first appearance with Al-Ittihad be? Al-Ittihad is the champion of the Saudi League for the past season, and it enters the tournament under the leadership of its Portuguese coach Nuno Santo and the star squad that the team included in the current summer transfer season, led by the former Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema, the former Real Madrid striker and winner of the Golden Ball “Balloon d’Or” for the past year, in addition to his compatriot, the midfielder N’Golo Kante from Chelsea, as well as the young Portuguese winger Gota, who comes from the Scottish Celtic.
In addition to the local duo, midfielder Sultan Al-Farhan and winger Saleh Al-Omari, who joined from Al-Raed and Abha, respectively. Al-Ittihad is preparing to include another star, the Brazilian Fabinho, the Liverpool midfielder, who will represent a great addition to the team that also preserved its professional stars, Moroccan Abdel-Razzak Hamdallah, Brazilian Romarinho, and fellow goalkeeper Marcelo Grohe.
The Al-Ittihad team set up its preparatory camp in the city of Taif, in which it will play its matches in the Arab Championship, where it will face Esperance, then Sfaxien, then Al-Shorta.
* Al-Shaabani aims to heal the wounds of Esperance: the Tunisian Esperance team is one of the most prominent teams in Africa, which won the Arab Clubs Championship title three times, the last of which was in 2017 at the expense of the Jordanian Al-Faisaly. And forth. Following the deterioration of the results, the club’s management dismissed coach Nabil Maaloul and hired coach Moein Al-Shaabani, who had previously led the team to two consecutive titles in the African Champions League, perhaps making a difference with the “Bab Souika” team.
During the current summer transfers, Esperance dispensed with its star, Mohamed Ali Bin Ramadan, who left for the Hungarian League, while the team completed two deals, including winger Osama Bougherra from the Olympic Club of Beji, and Nigerian midfielder Youssef Omaro from Al-Ittihad Monastir.
Esperance starts its matches with Al-Ittihad, then Al-Shorta in Sfaxien in the last round of the group stage.
Sfaxien is on a difficult mission without Dahman: The third team in Group A and the second representative of Tunisia in the tournament is the Sfaxien team, which has a great legacy in the championship that previously won its title twice before, in 2000 and 2004.
Sfaxien played two preliminary rounds to reach the group stage of the championship, where it initially eliminated the Qatari team, with a goalless draw in Tunisia and a positive 1/1 draw in Qatar, then eliminated Al Hilal of Sudan, defeating the first leg with a goal and winning the second leg with two goals to nothing.
Sfaxien ended its domestic season in a disappointing manner, so it settled for sixth place in the coronation group in the league championship, and bid farewell to the cup championship in the quarter-finals, in addition to bidding farewell to the African Confederation Championship from the second round of 32. The team went through a major crisis with its Egyptian coach Hossam Al-Badri, who expressed his desire to leave the team’s training, before club officials persuaded him to stay until at least the end of the Arab Championship.
As for the players, the team extended the contract of its Iraqi professional, Hussein Ali “Abu Saadia” for an additional season, and included the left wing of Ittihad Bin Guerdane Club, and Wadah Al-Zaidi, for three seasons, while sacking its Tunisian international goalkeeper Ayman Bin Dahman, who joined the Saudi Al-Hazm. The team begins its confrontations by meeting the Iraqi police before meeting the Saudi Federation, then plays the Tunisian derby in the third round once morest its compatriot, Esperance.
Iraqi police the moment he left his country for Saudi Arabia (Iraqi Federation)
* The champion of the first championship seeks to write history: Finally, the Iraqi police team is competing in the Arab Championship with the memories of winning the first title in 1982, as the team is the first to lift the title of the Arab Clubs Championship 41 years ago. The team enters this version a few days following being crowned champion of the Iraqi League this season, following a strong competition with the Air Force team, so that the team won the second consecutive title and the seventh in its history. The Green Battalion, led by the young coach Ahmed Salah, who coached the team in the middle of the season following the departure of Egyptian coach Moamen Suleiman to train rivals Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya, was able to impose its rhythm for the second year in a row, with a squad that includes 90 percent of those who reached the podiums last season.
The team has so far only signed a single deal to include Brazilian player Lucas Santos from Naft Maysan Club, but the team has preserved the majority of its stars, led by goalkeeper Ahmed Basil and defense duo Manaf Younes and Faisal Jassim, while the front line formed a striking force with the presence of veteran scorer Alaa Abdel Zahra and Syrian Mahmoud Al-Mawas.
The police start their confrontations by meeting Tunisian Sfaxien, then their compatriot, Esperance, before colliding with the Saudi Federation in the third round.
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