Abu Dhabi: Hossam Al Badry, the Al Ahly coach, has praised the “UAE’s good organisation” of Friday’s Egyptian Super Cup against Zamalek in Abu Dhabi — despite “the game’s poor timing”.
Both sides have been hampered by the fact that their Egypt internationals were involved in last Sunday’s Africa Cup of Nations final with Cameroon, which the Egyptians lost 2-1, and as such only arrived in the UAE on Tuesday.
This will be the second time that Al Ahly and Zamalek have contested the Egyptian Super Cup, which is played between the Egyptian Premier League champions and Egypt Cup winners, in the UAE.
In October 2015 in Al Ain, Ahly defeated Zamalek 3-2 to win a record ninth Super Cup title.
“I was not there for the Super Cup match in Al Ain but now I am here and I really like playing the Super Cup in UAE,” Al Badry said at a pre-match press conference at the Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, the venue for Friday’s encounter (8pm kick-off).
“Playing the Egypt Super Cup game in the Emirates is a good decision; we can see good organisation despite the game’s poor timing.”
Ahly will start as favourites to win a 10th Super Cup, which is traditionally the curtain-raiser to the new Egyptian football season but which was postponed until February.
The reigning champions lead the league again and are 11 points ahead of third-place Zamalek, who have two games in hand.
Al Badry hopes what is likely to be a sold-out affair is not affected by the scheduling, however.
“The team suffers from the international players’ absence in the senior national team and the military team. The international players confirmed their readiness to take part in the Super Cup game against Zamalek, despite their fatigue from participating in the 2017 Afcon.
“The Super Cup timing is bad for the two sides given the international players’ exhaustion. At this point, I still don’t know what will happen if the game finishes with a draw.
“[I don’t know whether] we will play extra time or go to penalty kicks directly.”
He added: “The position of the both the teams in the domestic league will have no role to play in the result of tomorrow’s game. The chances are 50-50 for both the teams. There are just 90 minutes and we will give our best.”
His opposite number, Mohammad Helmy, said: “We are ready for the Super Cup and we will give our best to win the Cup. But we had just five days to prepare for this match as our players were with the national team.
“This is a very special match. Everybody knows Zamalek players. It’s an open book. Our players want to win.”
Friday’s match is the latest boost to UAE-Egyptian footballing relations after September’s Arabian Gulf Super Cup between Al Ahli and Al Jazira was held in Cairo, and outside the UAE for the first time.
And in addition to the Egyptian Super Cup being staged at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium in 2015, the same venue hosted a friendly between Al Ahly and the Italian giants AS Roma last May.
