Recap
Al Ahly is going head-to-head with USM Alger in the CAF Super Cup, which will be held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, at King Fahd Sports City Stadium.
According to history, Al Ahly is by far the most successful team in Africa. The team has won the Cup 8 times out of 10 finals, boasting an 80% success rate. They made some significant transfers this summer, including Anthony Modeste, the French star from FC Köln and a former player for Borussia Dortmund, Emam Ashour, a rising star acquired from Al Ahly’s biggest rival Zamalek, midfielder Emam Ashour from Midtjylland, and Reda Selim, the previous right winger of FAR Rabat. Finally, the club boasts a very stable management and a continually increasing budget of 3 billion EGP, approximately 96 million dollars, which is a substantial budget in Africa. According to many Egyptian sources Al Ahly will not field Anthony Modeste. Additionally, Akram Tawfik and Amr El-Solia will miss the match due to injuries, but Switzerland coach Marcel Koller has top quality players to replace them.
On the other hand, USM Alger is playing its first-ever final in this competition, indicating zero experience. Last season, they were very close to relegation (12th place out of 16, just 4 points away from relegation) in the Algerian league and suffered many changes during the summer transfer period. Coach Abdelhak Benchikha left them and moved to famous Wydad Casablanca. Also, some key players like Meziane (22/3), Mahious (17/6), Zouari (17/1), Othmani (14/1), Loucif (12/1) left the team, while due to financial problems, only free players arrived. An additional problem is a number of injuries that have befallen the team over the past few days. After the last friendly match against JS Saoura, three important players Osama Oussama (22/1 last season), Adam Alilet (18/2 last season), and new player Amine Bouziane are out of the squad.
Al Ahly’s squad is significantly stronger compared to USM Alger and expect to win the 9th Super Cup title.
Extra bet: -1.5 Asian handicap Al Ahly @ 2.05 odds