Al Ahly succeeded to reach the Egyptian Cup final after defeating Al Ittihad Alexandria 2-1 tonight at Suez Stadium. 

We controlled the game from the early beginning to score the opener and we missed a scoring opportunity in the first 5 minutes as Al Ittihad’s defense blocked El Soulia’s pass to our winger El Shahaat. 

In the 11th minute, our captain El Shenawy blocked a dangerous ball to keep our net clean. 

El Soulia was near to score a goal in the 14th minute, but his shot was blocked by Al Ittihad’s defense to keep their net clean for more minutes. 

The game was tightened in the midfield as both teams were trying to control the tempo, but in the 22nd minute, Marwan missed a dangerous scoring chance after he shot the ball over the bar. 

In the 35th minute, Cisse’ scored the opener for his Alexandrian team after a one-two pass with his teammate. The Red Eagles then controlled the game once again to score the equalizer, but the opponent’s defense succeeded to block all our chances until the end of the first half.

The second half started with two substitutions for our side, as Al Ahly’s coach Pitso Mosimane substituted Marwan and Geraldo by Salah Mohsen and our new signing Taher Mohamed Taher. 

In the 50th minute, Taher nearly marked his arrival with a goal 5 minutes after coming on, but he missed the net and the ball went away. 

We kept our pressure to score the equalizer, as Mohsen shot the ball, but it was blocked once again by Al Ittihad’s goalkeeper. While the game was swinging from end-to-end, El Soulia’s header was about to score the equalizer, but the ball was blocked once again. 

In the 60th minute, the referee gave Al Ittihad Alexandria a penalty, but it was disallowed after checking the VAR. 

The Red Eagles dominated the game once again as we were seeking to score the equalizer, and in the 72nd minute, Al Ahly got the equalizer through Afsha, who found the bottom of the net with a stunning screamer. 

We controlled the game’s tempo, amid several attempts from Al Ittihad to score their second goal. In the 85th minute, the Alexandrian team won a dangerous free-kick at the edge of the box, but the defense blocked it away from El Shenawy’s net. 

We kept our pressure to score the winner, and in the 89th minute, we finally scored the second goal through Hamdy Fathy’s header to qualify for the final. 

Our head coach Mosimane used his bench again as he substituted Afsha by Rabia and then El Shahaat by Kahraba. The minutes went on and our captain El Shenawy suffered a bruise in his leg, but he continued the game after getting the needed treatment. 

Our players kept the domination on the game through the last minutes until the referee blew his final whistle. As a result, Al Ahly qualified for the Egyptian Cup final and will face Talae'a El Gaish on Saturday.