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When Zamalek dominated the continent and won the CAF Champions League for the last time, under the stands of “Helmy Zamora”, a child was formed as a great talent to carry the future of the White Knight.
December 13, 2002. 80,000 spectators, since dawn, filled the stands of the Cairo Stadium, which could sustain this number naturally in front of the plastic seats, and outside thousands like them did not attend.
One of the attendees was this boy to support his team, whom he always loved, after he finished one of his first training sessions in the morning with the first team excluded from the final of the African Champions League against Raja. Moroccan. Mahmoud Abdel-Razek, “Shikabala”. Zamalek star for many years from that date to the present.
It has been 18 years since Zamalek was crowned the last of Africa. The management of the club has changed and the characteristics of Hilmi Zamora have changed. Zamalek is no longer Africa’s leader and most successful champion after his knees suffered from disorders for years, and the faces of his loyal fans have also changed. Only his habits remain behind the team whenever the opportunity arises, and Shikabala continues to be with the team.
Shikabala is the only link between a generation that swept everything in 2002-2003 at the top of the world club rankings, and a current generation that began to feel a return to glory with two continental championships recently, which are the lowest. , waiting for the favorite tournament of the white fans.
Read – at the Joule Classic – Zamalek, the master of African champions
A few months after the 2002 final, Shikabala was writing her continental debut with Zamalek. Then he was crowned in the first African Continental Super Cup 2003 at the expense of Wydad Moroccan In a game he participated in the last minutes.
For the next 18 years, Zamalek lost the leadership of the teams with the most championship victories to rivals Al-Ahly. He is no longer a main competitor in the final stages of the tournament, except a few times.
In 2005, Zamalek reached the semi-finals of the African Champions League, and then fell to Al-Ahly.
Hope returned in 2016. Zamalek to the final of the African Champions League, led by Shikabala, who is close to realizing his dream, and the goal for which he is within the Zamalek quarry.
Then the Mamelodi Sundowns winds took what Zamalek’s ship did not want, causing the knight to lose his favorite championship again.
Now … let’s try again
More than half the season ended and we reached the semi-finals. And now, with a fresh start after a 7-month hiatus, Zamalek must face Raja Casablanca in the semi-finals of the CAF Champions League.
Shikabala will not be the star of the team on the field, but he has become the first team captain to pass on his past experiences for a different and happy ending this time. Shikabala is the bridge from which Zamalek fans hope to pass on the glories of their team from their previous historical generation, to a current generation that can gain the character of the club’s historical generations.
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Zamalek vs. Raja
At 9 p.m. Egyptian time, Zamalek will face Raja Casablanca today, Sunday, in the first leg of the African Champions League semifinals on the Mohammed V ship in Casablanca, the capital of Morocco.
Read also – Soccer cities: Casablanca
Before presenting the next game, we have to review the trajectory of the two teams for this stage.
Please, the owner of the land. The tournament started with Brikama United, The Gambian. The tie was the master of the situation in Gambia, with three goals per team.
In the second leg, Hope broke his teeth four times to qualify for the main round of the tournament with a score of 7-3 on aggregate.
In the first round, Raja met Libya’s victory, and the victory was 4-2 in the aggregate of the two matches and reaching the group stage.
Raja entered Group Four, accompanied by Etoile Sahel, JSK and Vita Club.
Raja qualified as the second group behind Etoile Sahel, and set a date with Mazembe in the quarterfinals.
In Casablanca, Raja won two goals to nil, before losing with a goal in Lubumbashi, as Raja qualified 2-1 on aggregate for the semi-finals and to face Zamalek.
Zamalek, in turn, was not an easy ride despite the easy start. The tournament started with Dikedaha from Somalia. Zamalek won 13-0 on aggregate and qualified for the main round.
In the title role, Zamalek reunited with Generation Foot from Senegal. Zamalek lost two goals to one in Dakar, and then the important showdown was in Egypt.
Generation refused to come to the match stadium under the pretext of changing stadiums, so Zamalek was alone in the stadium. However, “CAF” did not consider the withdrawal of the Senegalese team and decided to meet again.
In replay, Zamalek won with one goal, to finally qualify for the group stage, with Mazembe, Primero de Augusto and ZESCO United in the first group.
Zamalek’s start in the group stage was not strong. He lost to Mazembe in Lubumbashi by a hat-trick that resulted in the dismissal of Milutin Seridovic “Micho”, the team’s coach, and the arrival of Patrice Carteron to succeed him. A defeat that changed the course of the team’s season for the better.
Under Carteron’s leadership, Zamalek defeated First of Augustus in Cairo, then drew with ZESCO in Zambia and defeated them in Cairo, then tied with Mazembe in Egypt and First of Augustus in Angola.
In the end, the team qualified for the quarterfinals as the second group behind Mazembe.
Meanwhile, Zamalek was writing glory for himself by crowning the African Super Championship and then the Egyptian Super Championship in 6 days at the expense of Esperance, then Al-Ahly in February.
The second meeting was against Esperance in the quarterfinals this time. Zamalek won the round with three goals to one goal in Cairo, and lost in Tunisia with one goal, to qualify the white knight to the semifinals and reach a date with Raja Casablanca.
Iqra – The Atlas Lions Revival: Why did the Egyptians care to win the Moroccan League despite atop the Cairo Stadium?
The two coaches
Carteron is gone, and Jaime Pacheco returns to the helm five years after the first departure. Caritron left just when René Fyler left Al-Ahly and Juan Garrido left Wydad, so all the teams in the semifinals lost their coaches, except for Jamal Salami who continued with Raja.
Pacheco has nothing to mention that it is his first match in his career in the CAF Champions League, on the other hand, Jamal Salami has a little more experience in the African environment.
The 50-year-old previously faced Zamalek, with Morocco’s Fassi, in the round of 16 of the African Champions League in 2012. At the time, Zamalek won with two goals to nil, home and away.
Read – Raja Casablanca … the teacher of Africans in international forums
Press conference
Jaime Pacheco complained of the players’ fatigue before the game. “We have played five games in 15 days and my players are tired. I hope this is not reflected in this important match. We face the Moroccan champion, whom I congratulate for winning the League title. We will show our personality and ambition because our goal is to reach the final “.
As for Shikabala, the team captain said, “The leader of the White Battalion is the same between Zamalek and the Moroccan champion, saying:” The suspension of football for more than six months affected all the teams, especially us because before of the pandemic we were at our best levels. But now we are back and well prepared and we hope to achieve our goal. “
“Our fans need this title and we are very focused on our goal. Playing without fans makes the opportunity equal, whether at home or away.”
What does the story say?
Zamalek reached the semi-finals of the African Champions League 9 times before, and was unable to skip this role only twice, while winning 5 titles out of 7 times, reaching them for the final.
Read – the story of Zamalek and the African semi-finals
Today Nyant .. Zamalek knows him well
Cameroonian referee Allium Nyant leads the match between Raja and Zamalek in the first leg of the African Champions League semi-final.
The 38-year-old was the referee for the final final of the 2019 African Cup of Nations between Algeria and Senegal.
The Cameroonian has managed 6 games for the White Knight, lost 3 and won 3 CAF Champions League.
In the first round of the 2011 CAF Champions League, Zamalek lost to Africa 4-2 in Tunisia.
In the same stage of the next edition, Zamalek beat Africa Sport 1-0.
Zamalek’s second defeat under Cameroonian administration came against Al-Ahly in the group stage, which ended with Al-Ahly winning 4-2 as well.
Zamalek then defeated Nkana Red Devils 5-0 in the second round of the first leg of the African Champions League.
Niant managed the second leg of the 2015 CAF Champions League semi-final, which saw Zamalek lose 5-2 to Moroccan Wydad, as a result of which Zamalek qualified for the final after winning 4-0.
And in the current version of the Champions League, Al-Youm won the second leg between Zamalek and Senegal’s Generation Foot, in a match that ended with a 1-0 victory for the Whites and reaching the group stage. .
Lee – you are the coach .. Address your last instructions to the Zamalek players and read the instructions from the rest of the fans before taking on Raja from here.
Zamalek and Moroccans
Over the course of 9 occasions, Zamalek met with teams from Morocco and Africa. Zamalek emerged victorious 8 times and said goodbye to the tournament once, which was the first time that Zamalek had faced Moroccan teams.
The first meeting was against the Royal Moroccan Army in the 1985 African Champions League semi-finals, and that day Zamalek was eliminated from the tournament after losing on penalties.
The most prominent matches were against Raja Casablanca in the final of the 2002 CAF Champions League, when Zamalek won the championship with a score of 1-0 in the aggregate of the two games, then the African Super Cup in 2003 a expense of the Wydad Casablanca.
And in the journey to crown the African Confederation in the 2018/2019 season, Zamalek crossed his counterpart, Ittihad Tangier, in round 32, with a score of 3-1 on aggregate in both games, before crowning the championship. at Borkan’s expense in the final with a penalty shoot-out after the two teams exchanged a victory in the round trip and resolved the match.
Read – between the supremacy of the clubs and the national knot .. Egypt and Morocco for control of Africa
Would you like to read what FilGoal.com published about the tactical presentation of the match? You can read the following topics.
Hewar in the Joule – former Zamalek coach discusses his strengths and weaknesses … and a political alternative against Raja
Dialogue at the Joule – Amir Abdel Aziz talks about the February victory scenes for Zamalek … and preparing for hope
Analysis on the Joule – How Zamalek kills the speed of Raja’s attack and hits him with the right wing
Conveyor channel
The game will be broadcast at 9:00 a.m. Cairo time on BN Sports 7, with commentary from Hafeez Draghi, the famous Algerian commentator.
Choose the right Zamalek formation for Raja’s match from here.
