Pachuca suffered until the last moment of a dramatic penalty shootout to eliminate Al Ahly in Doha and thus qualify for Wednesday’s Intercontinental Cup final against Real Madrid. The pass of the Tuzos, who participate as current champions of the CONCACAF zone, was heroic, after Salomon Rondon y Borja Baston They will miss their first two shots and the Egyptians will score theirs. Everything seemed lost for the team Guillermo Almadawhich resurfaced thanks to failures following Mahmoud Kahraba y Omar Kamal. [Narración y estadísticas (0-0, 6-5)]
The situation had become balanced and remained that way until Faber Gil beat Pachuca 6-5 and then Khaled Abdelfattah He failed, definitively condemning the African champion and unleashing celebration for the Aztecs at Stadium 974 in the Qatari capital.
In the previous format of the Club World Cup, which from 2004 to 2023 measured the champions of each confederation, Pachuca had failed four times in its attempt to reach the final. Only one Mexican club, Tigres in the 2020 edition – played in February 2021 due to the pandemic – had managed to reach the final of that Mundialito, but then lost to Bayern Munich.
Too many precautions
This time Pachuca has a date with history and with Real Madrid, in what will be an appetizer before both face each other in the group stage of the new and expanded Club World Cup, on June 22, 2025 in Charlotte ( USA).
If in the match against Botafogo, Pachuca had given a lesson in effectiveness, this time the clash against Al Ahly was very lackluster, with the two teams fearing each other and having many problems creating chances. In the first half, the Egyptians were better and Ayman Ashraf He had two good chances (min. 12 and min. 37). Rondón, sending high in the 23rd minute, had wasted the best of the Concachampions champion.
In the second half, both abused long-range shots, rushing to define the plays. Angel Mena y Nelson Deossawith a quarter of an hour left in the 90 minutes, they had both of them with more intent. Boredom took over the extra time, where Carlos Moreno He saved Pachuca on one occasion, with a great intervention against Kharaba. The finalist was going to be decided in the final round, where Pachuca won the war of nerves.