Ittihad Al-Asimah Club returned with a valuable point from the Egyptian capital, Cairo, after a goalless draw in the confrontation that brought it together with Modern Future Club for the fourth round of the group stage of the African Confederation Cup.
Following this result, the defending champion reached the quarter-finals, after raising his score to 10 points, as he leads the first group by three points from the Egyptian team, two rounds before the end of the first round.
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Summary of the first half
Spanish coach Juan Carlos Garrido made five changes to the starting lineup, which he included in the team’s last championship match Professional Association The first is against the White MC.
Abdel Samad Bounasser replaced his colleague Adam Alilat in the defense position, while Mustafa Bushina replaced Osama Sheetah in the recovery position, and Mohamed Mubarak and Ibrahim Benzaza accompanied him in the midfield.
While the trio, Mohamed Ait El-Hajj, Oribuni Tomisong, and Ismail Belkacemi took charge of leading the offensive line.
Al-Ittihad had two chances to score in the last minutes of the first half, but Benzaza’s poor handling of the ball in the first and Belkacemi’s lack of rush and header in the second prevented that.
For its part, the players of the Egyptian Future Club controlled the ball for most of the first stage, but they were unable to threaten Osama Ben Bout’s goal except on one occasion through Moroccan striker Abdelkebir Al-Awadi, whose shot collided with defender Zinedine Belaid.
Summary of the second half
Al-Ittihad initiated the attack at the start of the second stage, as Ait Al-Haj shot a powerful ball in the 51st minute, which was brilliantly blocked by Egyptian goalkeeper Mahmoud Gensh and converted into a corner kick.
The opponent, in turn, rushed to respond, which prompted midfielder Mustafa Bouchina to use harshness in his intervention on striker Al-Awadi in the 58th minute, almost causing him to receive a second warning.
In the 66th minute, coach Garrido made his first changes, replacing striker Ait El Haj with Mali’s Abdoulaye Kanu.
USMA players were desperate to defend their goal in the second quarter-hour of this half, and they were able to stop the attacks of Modern Future Club.
The Algerian club’s backsliding did not prevent it from threatening the opponent’s goal, and it was even close to opening the scoring through Benzaza, who threw goalkeeper Jensh with his entire body to block his powerful shot in the 70th minute.
The Spanish coach Garrido adopted the method of counterattacks, especially by inserting winger Mohamed Lamine Bouziane in place of Ismail Belkacemi, and midfielder Taher Ben Khalifa instead of Omar Mubarak.
The coach tried to rest a large number of his players, as the team awaits an important date in five days in the first professional league championship.
Al-Ittihad faces its traditional rival, Mouloudia Algiers, on Monday, in the 11th round of the same competition.
The remaining minutes of the match did not bring anything significant, with Mauritanian referee Abdelaziz Bouh ending the confrontation after adding five minutes to stoppage time.
Captain Zinedine Belaid’s teammates kept a clean sheet for the fourth time in a row in the group stage of the African Confederation Cup this season, which strengthened their lead in Group A and qualified them for the quarter-finals.
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