Two continental heavyweights, Al Ahly SC of Egypt and USM Alger of Algeria, will clash on Friday evening in the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Super Cup at the King Fahd Stadium in the city of Taif, Saudi Arabia.
The duo are holders of the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederations Cup titles, respectively.
The winner will ultimately be crowned the king of Africa club football for the 2022–23 season.
Al Ahly go into the clash as favourites with 11 appearances and an impressive eight wins and two losses and are so far the most successful club in this competition.
Underdogs
USM Alger, for their part, are making their debut in the CAF Super Cup and will be hoping to become the second Algerian club to lift the title after ES Setif in 2015.
Ahly defeated Wydad Athletic Club of Morocco in the last CAF Champions League game in June and are known for their dominance and aggression. But they are not taking chances.
‘’The confrontation will be difficult, as we will meet an experienced Egyptian club. God willing, we will live up to the responsibility placed on us and make our supporters and the nation proud,’’ says USM Alger’s captain, Zinedine Belaid.
Al Ahly star Mohamed Hani says the team will not go into the tournament with a walkover mentality.
He said: ‘’We don’t come into the match thinking how many times the other team won the Super Cup; this is an important match for us, and that is all we will focus on. The highly anticipated match kicks off at 9:00 p.m. local time.
