“Final of the Century” … Pacheco is betting on Zamalek Offensive Trio against Al-Ahly

Xenia Sports – Cairo

Ali Rady 

Zamalek club is preparing to face Al-Ahly on Friday, in the final of the African Champions League, and when the hands of nine in the evening are ticking, the Egyptian and Arab fans will be on a date with one of the most exciting matches in history between the two major poles.

The Portuguese coach, Jamie Pacheco, coach of Zamalek team, is preparing to achieve a historic achievement on a personal level, when he leads the White Knight in a confrontation that the Egyptian and Arab media called the “final of the century”, given that it was the first time that the two clubs met in the final of the strongest African championships, where they had previously met once. One in the final of the African Super in 1994, and Zamalek crowned the tournament with the goal of Ayman Mansour, and with the exception of that confrontation, the other matches between the two parties were in the knock out stage and witnessed a great advantage from Al-Ahly club.

Jaime Pacheco relies on a number of trump cards in the Zamalek lineup, and the most prominent of those cards are the distinguished attacking trio, Ashraf Bensharki, Mustafa Mohamed, and Ahmed Sayed “Zizou”.

Zamalek entered a closed camp, where Pacheco imposed complete secrecy on the players, for fear of leaking the plan and the formation that will enter Al-Ahly meeting, as it seeks to surprise the opponent tactically, in the green rectangle, as it seeks to hijack the match as usual in the past period, and it is on the same path Former coach Patrice Carteron.

Zamalek depends in the way of playing on securing the line of defense and relying on the counterattack, which is the way in which it achieved two African Cups at the expense of Tunisia’s Esperance, and then beat Al-Ahly in the Egyptian Super Cup final, which was held last February.

And Zamalek relied on the strong defense with the presence of Mahmoud Alaa and Mahmoud Abdel Rahim “Al-Wensh” next to him, but the latter seems to catch him in the match that may be difficult after the medical examinations and medical swabs he underwent recently confirmed that he was infected with the Coronavirus “Covid 19”.

Zamalek bases his attacking plan against Al-Ahly on the accuracy of Tunisian Ferjani Sassi’s passes and in front of him, the talented playmaker Youssef Ibrahim “Obama”, in order to hit Al-Ahly’s defenses and reach Mohamed El-Shenawi’s net.

As for the big bet for the Portuguese Pacheco, it is relying on the duo Ahmed Sayed Zizou and Ashraf Bencharki, in order to penetrate the left and right fronts of Al-Ahly, especially since Mohamed Hani, the right-back Al-Ahly, and Ali Maaloul, the left-back, are very much ahead of the attack, and therefore they may leave empty spaces behind them. Zizou will work. And in Sharqi to take advantage of it, at the same time the two players are especially skilled in dribbling, shooting from outside, and head playing.