20:00 Cairo local time | 13:00 ET Canada-USA
Venue: Petrosport
Referee: Mahmoud Ashour
Coach Patrice Carteron has decided to rest Tunisia striker Seifeddine Jaziri and Egypt’s duo Mahmoud ‘El-Wensh’ Hamdy and Ahmed Fatouh, who played international games on Saturday in the Arab Cup.
Winger Ahmed “Zizo” Sayed will also sit out of this game due to automatic suspension after accumulating three yellow cards in previous games.
Zamalek captain and veteran left-back Mohamed Abdel-Shafy will also miss the game due to injury, leaving Carteron with Abdallah Gomaa as the only option at the left-back.
The squad that was announced on Tuesday includes Ivorian forward Abdul Razack Cisse for the first time since returning from his loan spell at Ittihad of Alexandria, as he had been ruled out since the beginning of the season with a knee injury.
Moroccan forward Achraf Bencharki is another boost for the team, as he had more time to recover as the Atlas Lions were eliminated from the Arab Cup quarters.
The defending champions are looking to close the gap at the top as they are now fourth with 13 points five behind leaders Ahly after six rounds. Meanwhile, Arab Contractors are at the other end of the table with only five points in 14th place and hope they can turn their fortunes around after this break.
