By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
CAF Champions League champions, Al Ahly, have beaten Raja Casablanca to win their second consecutive CAF Super Cup under Pitso Mosimane.
In the 13th minute, right back Abdelilah Madkour led Raja Casablanca’s counter attack. Madkour then crossed the ball inside the penalty area and found Zamalek loanee Hamid Ahaddad who smashed it into the back of the net.
A part from the goal, neither side created any clear cut chances in the remaining minutes of the first-half.
Al Ahly needed to respond quickly and therefore imposed their pressure and style of play to try and snatch a quick equalizer.
Mohamed Magdy Afsha had the Reds’ first chance in the 65th minute with a powerful long range effort but it was caught by the goalkeeper.
Then in the 82nd minute, Mohamed Sherif played a brilliant through ball to Percy Tau but the South African’s effort went wide.
The Red Devils’ pressure proved to be fruitful as they finally managed to score the equalizer in the 90th minute. Mohamed Sherif found Afsha inside the penalty box but the latter’s shot was saved. Tau was there for the the follow-up but instead of shooting, he took a more unselfish route and passed it to the open Taher Mohamed Taher who made it 1-1.
After the 90 minutes ended in a draw, the game was sent to penalty shootouts. Both teams scored their five initial attempts, meaning that it needed to be decided with a sudden death.
Akram Tawfik stepped up to take the sixth penalty and sent the goalkeeper the wrong way to give his side an advantage. Abdelilah Madkour was the one to take Raja’s penalty but was unable to hit the target, handing Al Ahly their eighth Super Cup.