2023/24 CAF Confed. Cup Final: Zamalek's Road to the final
Cairo, Egypt (PANA) - Winners of the 2019 TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup, Egyptian football powerhouse, Zamalek SC, are eager to end what could be a five-year wait to lifting a continental title.
The Egyptians are preparing for the final once the appeal of Algeria to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the decision taken by the Confederation for African Football (CAF) in the disputed semi-final tie between Union Sportive Medina d'Alger (USM Alger) of Algeria and Club Renaissance Sportive de Berkane (RS Berkane) of Morocco is decided.
The Algerian club, USM Alger were sanctioned 0-3 in each leg of the semi-final which were cancelled following a dispute over the map of Morocco on RS Berkane's shirt which included the disputed Western Sahara that is at the heart of a diplomatic row between Algeria and Morocco.
RS Berkane refused to play the first-leg match in Algeria after customs officials seized their shirts while USM Alger also refused play the second-leg match in Morocco the following week.
The dates for the final, originally fixed for 12 and 19 May will have to be rescheduled after the CAS determines the case.
CAFOnline takes a look at Zamalek’s journey to the final against the two-time winners who are equally strong contenders for the title.
Preliminary Round: 4 – 3 aggregate winners over AS Arta. It was a rather shaky start for the Egyptians in the preliminary round when they had to reverse a 2-0 loss against Djibouti’s AS Arta.
In what would be deemed as a disastrous exit, the Egyptians showed class in a convincing 4-1 reverse victory that saw them advance to the group stages.
Group Stage: Finished top of Group B with 16 points. Zamalek made their title ambitions quite clear in the group stages after finishing top of Group B in a pool consisting of Abu Salem (Libya), Sagrada Esperanca (Angola) and CO Coyah (Guinea).
Their group stage performance saw them finish as the team with the highest points in the group stages with 16 points.
Quarter-Finals: 3-2 aggregate win over Modern Future.
The Competition became stiffer in the quarter-final when the former champions had to face fellow Egyptian Premier League counterparts, Modern Future FC.
They survived a scare in the first leg after coming back from a goal down to seal an important 2-1 away victory courtesy of late goals in both halves by Hamza Mathlouthi and Ahmed Sayed’s late penalty conversion.
The second leg was a highly tactical affair by the two Egyptian sides.
Zamalek had to show their championship mettle once again as Ahmed Hamdi levelled matters for the match to end in a 1-1 draw that was enough for the former champions to advance.
Semi-Finals: 3-0 aggregate win over Dreams FC.
Facing a highly-spirited Dreams FC was not going to be an easy task for Zamalek who had to overcome a side who on their debut made history by reaching the semi-finals of the competition.
The Ghanaians looked to be well on course to causing yet another upset after initially holding Zamalek to a goalless draw in their own backyard, before falling to a 3-0 defeat in Kumasi in a result that saw Zamalek through the final.
-0- PANA VAO/MA 8May2024
