The Zamalek delegation arrives in Algeria on Wednesday amid a “charged” atmosphere.
USM’s Senegalese coach, Lamine Ndiaye, is counting on the experience of the quintet, Oussama Ben Bout, Ibrahim Ben Zaza, Islam Marilli, Haitham Loussif, and Saadi Redouani, to surprise Zamalek in the next continental final, which will bring the two teams together on Saturday at the “July 5” Olympic Stadium, given that the aforementioned players have experience in the competition, having previously won the CAF Cup at the beginning of June. The year is 2023 at the expense of Tanzania’s Young Africans Club.
It is known that the last cup won by the Capital Union goes back to the 2022-2023 season against the Tanzanian club Young Africans, after Al-Ittihad defeated Al-Ittihad away from home in the capital, “Dar es Salaam”, by two goals to one in the first leg, before losing in the return match at the “July 5” Olympic Stadium by an unanswered goal, so the goalkeeper Osama Bin Bout’s teammates lifted the cup as a result of the advance in the aggregate of the two matches.
The Senegalese technician, Ndiaye, had met with his players during the resumption session, in which he called on them to stop celebrating and return to focus again in anticipation of the first leg against Zamalek, urging the group to take matters seriously and take advantage of the short wait that the team will go through starting today at the national teams’ preparation center in Sidi Moussa.
Starting today, Al-Ittihad will begin a short closed training session at the national teams’ preparation center in Sidi Moussa, lasting until next Saturday, during which the Al-Ittihad’s technical staff will work to prepare its players for the final physically, technically and psychologically, with the aim of achieving a positive and comfortable result in the first leg before the Cairo “battle” scheduled for May 16 at the “Cairo International” stadium, noting that the Senegalese technician will work on drawing the basic formation that will be relied upon. Against the representative of Egyptian football in the absence of the duo Ashraf Obada and Imad El-Din Ezzi, who is not qualified on the continent, while striker Hossam El-Din Ghesha will be largely absent due to the injury he suffers from at the knee level.
Coach Ndiaye is moving towards making some minor changes to the starting lineup that he will rely on next Saturday against Zamalek, in the first leg of the Confederation Cup final at Nelson Mandela Stadium in Baraki, due to the absence of the duo Imad Eddine Ezzi and Ashraf Abada from the African final, due to his lack of continental qualification, as this will be the point that Ndiaye must deal with with caution, even though the Cameroonian Che Malone will be there. Ready for the mission at the pivot level, the Al-Ittihad technical staff is also waiting for Hossam El-Din Ghesha’s recovery before the final date in order to rely on him at the attack level, after he missed the Republic Cup final last Thursday due to injury.
It is expected that Ndiaye will rely on the same squad that was selected for the final at the expense of Olympique Safi of Morocco, by renewing confidence in Ben Bout in goalkeeping, Dhiri, Che Malone, Redouani and Mahrouz in defence, in addition to Draoui, Benzaza and Tanding in the midfield, so that Khalidi and Camaghati will be in attack, while Liconza, Ben Ayed and even Bouderbala will be among the best cards. Ndiaye in case he resorts to changes.
As a reminder, the Confederation of African Football had appointed Mauritanian Dahhan Beida as referee for the first leg of the CAF Cup final between USMA and Zamalek, scheduled for May 9 at the 5 July Olympic Stadium. He is assisted in his duties by Angolan Gerson dos Santos and Cameroonian Elvis Ngoye as second assistant, in addition to Mauritanian Abdelaziz Bouh, who will be fourth referee. Ghanaian Daniel Laria was also appointed as referee. On video technology, and Mauritanian Babakar Sarr is his assistant, in addition to Kenyan Dickens Miza Nyagroa, who will be a second assistant on technology. Ugandan Haruna Mwanda was also chosen as general observer of the match, while the Ethiopian match referee Lydia Tafesi Abebe is monitoring the match.
