Al-Ahly kicked off their quest to improve upon back-to-back bronzes at the FIFA Club World Cup™ with a 2-0 win over Auckland City.
The Kiwitea Street minnows did themselves proud, but goals from Hussein Elshahat, Mohamed Sherif and Percy Tau booked the Cairo colossuses a clash with Seattle Sounders on Saturday.
The first half certainly didn’t look like amateurs against the reigning African Club of the Century.
Left-wingback Nathan Lobo was a persistent pest to Ahly, while Cameron Howieson, Ryan De Vries and Emiliano Tade all showed they could thrive against elite opposition.
Just when it looked like Auckland had got to half-time at parity, however, Elshahat’s shot from just outside the box beat the unsighted Conor Tracey to give Marcel Koller’s side the lead.
Hussein El-Shahat has his eyes set on reaching the FIFA Club World Cup™ Final as his side defeated Auckland City FC by three goals to nil in the opening round of the competition.
In the second period, Ahly showed their considerable muscle from the outset. A sumptuous Ahmed Abdelkader nutmeg got the masses off their seats, before Sherif made it 2-0 with a cool finish after slipping in behind the Auckland defence.
That all but settled the match as a contest, although there was still time for substitute Percy Tau to add further gloss to the scoreline with a delicate dinked finish at the end of a wonderful, flowing team move.
Salt was then applied to Kiwi wounds deep into stoppage time with a red card for Adam Mitchell for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity, although a VAR check did at least overturn a penalty award for the same incident – with the decision announced to the crowd for the first time.
