A place in the final of the FIFA Intercontinental Cup will be at stake on Saturday when Pachuca and Al Ahly square off at Stadium 974 in Qatar, with Real Madrid awaiting the winner.
Earlier this week, Tuzos advanced to this stage thanks to a 3-0 victory over Botafogo, while the Egyptians claimed a 3-0 triumph against Al Ain in October.
Match preview
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A convincing second-half performance on Wednesday has Pachuca on the verge of making the final of a world club tournament for the first time.
Three goals in the final 45 minutes sent Guillermo Almada's men into the semi-finals of this competition as they ended a two-match losing run across all competitions.
The reigning CONCACAF Champions Cup winners have won three of their previous four competitive fixtures when netting multiple times, with their only defeat over that stretch coming against Cruz Azul in the Liga MX Apertura (4-2).
Meanwhile, only one of their last eight meetings versus clubs outside Mexico ended in defeat for Pachuca (2-1 to Toronto in the Leagues Cup), with the club from Hidalgo emerging victorious in five of those instances.
Saturday will be their first appearance in the semi-finals of a world club competition since 2018, when they lost to Brazilian side Gremio at the Club World Cup (1-0 in extra time) before suffering a 4-1 defeat versus Al-Jazira in the third-place playoff.
Tuzos had only one prior meeting with Al Ahly, and on that occasion, the Mexicans erased a 2-0 deficit to win that 2008 Club World Cup quarter-final fixture 4-2 in extra time.
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After a dominating performance this fall, Al Ahly are in the semi-finals of a world club tournament for a fifth consecutive campaign.
Nadi El Watanniyah limited the reigning Asian Champions League winners to just two efforts on target in October despite having 43% of the possession.
They failed to advance on the previous four occasions that they made this phase of a world competition, with each of those instances occurring at the Club World Cup, losing 2-0 versus Fluminense in the 2023 semi-final round.
Marcel Koller's team are on a nine-match unbeaten run across all competitions, with the reigning CAF Champions League winners in Africa failing to concede or score in their two matches this month.
Since October, the 44-time Egyptian Premier League champions have not lost a single encounter when scoring the opening goal, dropping points on only one of those occasions (1-1 draw with Al Ittihad).
This weekend will mark the fifth time they face a club from Liga MX, with the last Al Ahly triumph over Mexican opposition being in the second round of the Club World Cup two years ago against Monterrey (1-0).
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Team News
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On the Pachuca side, Almada made three changes from the squad that lost 1-0 domestically to Juarez in November, with Luis Rodriguez, Andres Micolta and Alan Bautista replacing Jose Castillo, Alonso Aceves and Owen Gonzalez in the starting 11.
Oussama Idrissi notched the winner on Wednesday five minutes into the second half, with the other strikes coming courtesy of Nelson Deossa and Salomon Rondon, while Carlos Moreno made two stops to pick up the shutout.
A hamstring strain sustained by Mostafa Shobeir will likely keep the Al Ahly goalkeeper out of the lineup for this semi-final clash, with Mohamed Hany still recovering from a cruciate ligament strain and Karim Fouad probably out as well because of partial damage to his cruciate ligament.
Wessam Abou Ali scored just beyond the half-hour mark against Al Ain, with Emam Ashour and Afsha adding insurance markers in the second half, while captain Mohamed El Shenawy collected a clean sheet between the sticks.
Pachuca possible starting lineup:
Moreno; L. Rodriguez, Barreto, Micolta, B. Gonzalez; Montiel, Pedraza; A. Gonzalez, Deossa, Idrissi; Rondon
Al Ahly possible starting lineup:
El Shenawy; Tawfik, Dari, Rabia, Attiyat Allah; El Solia, Nabil Koka; Mohamed, Ashour, Afsha; Abou Ali
We say: Pachuca 2-0 Al Ahly
The semi-final round seems to be a great psychological hurdle for Ah Ahly, and we believe their inconsistent attacking form over the past few weeks will prove costly on Saturday.
Pachuca took a while to get into their previous encounter, but this side showed they can be deadly on the counter and make their chances count, which is why we project they will punch their ticket into the final against Real Madrid.
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Joel Lefevre
