20:00 Cairo local time (GMT+2) | 14:00 ET Canada-USA
Venue: Al-Ahly Stadium
Referee: José Luis Munuera Montero (Spain)
Ahly will face their first real test following the departure of Pitso Mosimane when they meet Zamalek in the Cairo derby at Al-Salam Stadium.
The first-round match between Ahly and Zamalek ended with a big victory for the Reds five to three. Liverpool was led by South African coach Pitso Mosimane, before he quit the job last week.
Ahly enters tonight’s match with 40 points in its pocket, coming in third place in the Egyptian Premier League table.
The team has three postponed matches, having only played 17 so far.
Zamalek team is topping the Egyptian league table with 44 points from 20 played matches.
Ahly will be led by the team’s general coach, Sami Komsan, who was chosen by the board of directors led by Mahmoud al-Khatib to take over the training of Al-Ahly temporarily after the contract was terminated by mutual consent with South African coach Pitso Mosimane.
Zamalek have their own problems too. The team have been largely inconsistent this term, with even the arrival of veteran Portuguese coach Jesualdo Ferreira, who led them to a rare domestic double in 2015, failing to turn around their fortunes.
The club are suffering from a shortage of options after being hit with a FIFA transfer ban last summer and Ferreira is struggling to fill the gaps.
They needed extra time to scrape into the Egypt Cup last 16 with a 2-1 win over second-division side Dakhleya last Monday after producing another lifeless performance.
Although Zamalek leads the league table with 44 points, four ahead of Ahly, the latter still have three games in hand. Should Ahly defeat Zamalek and win their rescheduled matches, they will pull eight points clear on top.
Ahly were boosted by the return from injury of several key players ahead of the game, including Tunisian left-back Ali Maaloul and midfield duo Amr El-Sulaya and Hamdi Fathi.
However, they will miss central defender Mohamed Abdel-Moneim, who was a key member of an Egypt side that reached the African Nations Cup final earlier this year. There are also doubts over the fitness of Malian midfielder Aliou Dieng.
Zamalek welcomes back defender Mohamed Abdel-Ghani but his defensive partner, Mahmoud Alaa, is out due to automatic suspension.
The White Knights are also missing their two right-backs, Hazem Emam and Tunisian Hamza Mathlouthi. Midfield linchpin Tarek Hamed, who reports said will not prolong his deal after it expires at the end of this month, is also out with injury.
Live: Al Ahly v Zamalek | Cairo Derby
20:00 Cairo local time (GMT+2) | 14:00 ET Canada-USA
