Zamalek (Egypt) v Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa), African Champions League final
First Leg: Saturday, in Pretoria, 5pm UAE (3pm local)
• beIN Sports hold the TV rights for Middle East / North Africa; specific channel unavailable at this time
Second Leg: October 23, in Alexandria, 6.30pm UAE (8.30pm local)
• beIN Sports
// Three years ago, South Africa and Egypt collided in the African Champions League final. They do so again as the 2016 final first leg kicks off on Saturday, just with entirely different antagonists this time.
In 2013, Cairo’s Al Ahly won their record eighth Champions League title, edging Johannesburg’s Orlando Pirates 3-1 in the final. This year, it is Ahly’s Cairo rivals Zamalek against Pretoria’s Mamelodi Sundowns.
Recent history would seem to favour the South African side.
Sundowns and Zamalek met twice in the mini-league quarter-final round, and won both encounters en route to topping Group B. First, in June, Tiyane Mabunda and Khama Billiat combined to lift the visitors in Cairo 2-1. A month later, they cemented their supremacy with a 1-0 win on the opposite end of the continent.
They also had arguably the more impressive semi-final round, overcoming a 2-1 first-leg deficit against Zambian club Zesco United, as Zamalek built a 4-0 first-leg lead against Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca before nearly squandering it as they advanced sloppily 6-5 on aggregate.
Zamalek, however, will take a longer view of history. They are one of Africa’s most prominent and successful clubs, with the third-most titles in this competition (five), the last in 2002. That was also their last trip to the final. Sundowns have never won, having gone to the final only once, in 2001.
When the two sides meet, the Egyptian club will be hoping their defensive disappearance in the second leg against Wydad proves an aberration. It is usually their strength. They allowed the second-least goals (25 in 34 matches) in the Egyptian Premier League last season, as they finished runners-up to Al Ahly. The season before, when they won the Egyptian title for the first time in 11 years, they were even stingier – 21 goals in 38 matches, comfortably the league’s best.
Fortified by one of Egypt’s top (though recently demoted in the national side) goalkeepers, Ahmed El Shenawy, and three Egypt defenders – Ahmed Dewidar, Islam Gamal and Ali Gabr, Zamalek had allowed just four goals in nine matches before the second-leg collapse against Casablanca.
They are led from the front by the dangerous Basem Morsy, who scored three times across the two semi-final legs. They are, however, without talented young winger Mahmoud Kahraba, their leading scorer in the league last season with 11 goals, after loaning the 22-year-old midfielder to Saudi Arabia’s Al Ittihad for €1.5 million (Dh6.1m) in the summer. He had been instrumental as Zamalek advanced past Cameroon’s Union Douala and Algeria’s Mouloudia Bejaia in the qualifying rounds.
Sundowns, meanwhile, have traversed a remarkable journey to reach this point. They started in the preliminary qualifiers, exited against DR Congo’s Vita Club in the second qualifying round and then were reinstated when Vita Club were disqualified for fielding an ineligible player two rounds earlier.
They have proved a dynamic attacking team under manager Pitso Mosimane, a former South Africa international. The have had 11 different goalscorers throughout the competition, with Billiat leading the way with just three. They have managed to advance this far on a 16-11 goal difference in 12 matches.
They will be relying on South African veteran playmaker Hlompho Kekana to break down the Zamalek defence and Zimbabwe’s Billiat, who was fourth in the South African Premier Division scoring charts last season with 12 goals, to lead the line. Recently signed South Africa forward Sibusiso Vilakazi will also be counted on to be a goal threat and Keagan Dolly, an emerging 23-year-old winger already with two goals in four international appearances, and from the same Johannesburg township as Steven Pienaar, will require attention.
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