Fluminense vs Al Ahly prediction: WORLD: FIFA Club World Cup betting tips on match 2023-12-17 18:00.
One of Fluminense’s many rewards for winning their first ever Copa Libertadores title on home soil in the iconic Maracanã Stadium earlier this year is a place in the semi-finals of the FIFA Club World Cup (FCWC). The Tricolor are consequently entering this competition for the first time in their history, and will strive to be the first Brazilian side since Corinthians in 2012 to emerge victorious.
Boss Fernando Diniz has split his duties with taking interim charge of the Brazil national team since July, and it has reflected in their form on the domestic front. Fluminense lost their last two league games en route to a seventh-placed finish, and could now taste defeat in three successive games for the first time since June if they bow out of the competition here. Diniz and his staff were in attendance to study their upcoming opponents, Egypt’s Al Ahly, who were too good for star-studded Saudi club Al-Ittihad (3-1) in their opening game.
Al Ahly and Fluminense share the ultimate goal of ending the decade-long dominance European sides have enjoyed in this competition. The Egyptian outfit ought to be full of confidence after dispatching their Saudi opponents in front of 56,000 gobsmacked fans in the quarter-finals, extending their stellar run of form to just one defeat from their last 17 competitive matches (W9, D7).
That was despite head coach Marcel Koller telling media prior to the match the team “is not at (their) best”, so perhaps they have even more to offer in their fourth consecutive semi-finals appearance. All five previous berths in the last four of this tournament have ended in defeat, and as three of those came against Brazilian opposition, the Red Devils have some demons to banish in this clash.
Players to watch: The scorer of Fluminense’s winning goal in the Copa Libertadores final, John Kennedy gets more dangerous as the game progresses – 15 of his 17 goals this term arrived after half-time. Kahraba could be the man to inspire Al Ahly after he assisted twice in the 3-1 quarter-final victory over Al-Ittihad.
Hot stat: On each of the ten occasions that Al Ahly have conceded 2+ goals in a FCWC match, they went on to lose.