African Champions: Al Ahly and Al Hilal in a fateful confrontation

The final sixth round of the group stage of the CAF Champions League kicks off tomorrow. Seven clubs booked their seats in the knockout stages of the continental competition, including 7 Arab teams, waiting for the last team that will complete the contract of the qualifiers for the quarter-finals, which will also be an Arab club.
Defending champions Wydad Casablanca of Morocco and JS Kabylie of Algeria qualified for Group A, South Africa's Mamelodi Sundowns of Group B, Morocco's Raja Casablanca and Tanzania's Simba, and Algeria's Esperance de Tunis and Chabab Belouizdad qualified for Group A.

Al-Ahly of Egypt and Al-Hilal of Sudan are battling over the last candidacy card for the knockout stage in the tournament, when they meet on Saturday at Cairo International Stadium in the second group competitions, which is led by Sundowns with 11 points. Sundowns, who won the title in 2016, clinched the first ticket from that group since the fourth round, as they are a point ahead of their nearest pursuers Al-Hilal, while Al-Ahli are in third place with 7 points, and Cameroonian cotton is at the bottom of the standings without points.

While Sundowns hopes to get the three points to stay at the top of the group, without looking at the results of others, and meet one of the second-placed teams in the other three groups in the quarter-finals when they meet their guest cotton, the struggle will be fierce between Al-Ahli and Al-Hilal to obtain the second card for the next round of that group.

Al-Hilal missed the opportunity to resolve its rise to the quarter-finals, after falling into the trap of a positive draw 1/1 with its guest Sundowns in the last round, as the Sudanese team was on the verge of officially qualifying had it not been for the loss of its player Athar Al-Taher a penalty kick in the added time instead of the injury of the meeting against the South African team, to revive Al-Ahli's hope again to move forward in the tournament. However, Al Hilal still have a good chance to continue their adventure in the competition, which they won in 1987 and 1992, where a draw with Al Ahly, or even a loss by a single goal difference, is enough for them provided they succeed in scoring against the Egyptian team.
Al Ahly, who recovered quickly from a tough 2-5 loss in the fourth round to Sundowns, after a 4-1 win over Cameroonian Cotton in the last round, also have a very good chance of staying in the competition. It is enough for Al-Ahli to win 10/<> over Al-Hilal to climb to the quarter-finals in the tournament, which holds the record for the number of times won with <> titles.

In that case, Al-Ahly will have the same balance as Al-Hilal, which will be equal to it in the difference of direct confrontations as well, after the Sudanese team had previously won against its Egyptian counterpart 1/11 in their first meeting in Sudan, to settle the goal difference in favor of the team of Swiss coach Marcel Kohler, who scored 8 goals and conceded 6 goals before playing the last round, while Al-Hilal players scored 50 goals and the blue team scored three goals.
Al Ahly also have another chance to qualify if they beat Al Hilal by at least two goals, if they concede in the match, which will see the support of <>,<> fans.

Al-Ahly and Al-Hilal meetings have always been characterized by rivalry, since the first confrontation between them in the final of the competition in 1987, which is revealed by the language of numbers, in the previous 11 matches between them in the tournament, the Egyptian team achieved 4 victories while the Sudanese team won 3 meetings, and imposed the same draw on 4 confrontations. During 5 meetings between the two teams in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, Al-Ahly achieved 4 victories compared to one victory for Al-Hilal achieved in 2004. Unlike the fiery confrontation between Al Ahli and Al Hilal, the meetings of the other groups will be characterized by some calm, especially after the parties have determined their position on staying in the tournament, as the struggle between the qualified clubs is limited to obtaining the lead.