Players of Egypt’s Al Ahly football club concluded their training session on Thursday by taking more than 30 penalty kicks in anticipation of a potential penalty shootout in their upcoming match against Zamalek, their traditional rivals.
The two teams will face off on Friday at the Al-Oulh Park stadium in Riyadh in the first-ever final of the Egyptian Cup to be held outside Egypt.
According to sources close to the team, Al Ahly’s training session, held at the Prince Abdulrahman bin Saud stadium within the Al-Nassr Club, included a full-field scrimmage, a 10-minute tactical lecture, running and hurdling exercises, as well as rope pulling.
The session was concluded by Swiss coach Marcel Koller imposing penalty kicks on the players.
Sources indicated that the coaching staff expressed satisfaction with the performance of the participants in the scrimmage, particularly highlighting Hussein El Shahat, Amr El Solia, and Mahmoud Abdel Moneim Kahraba.
In a related development, media sources in Egypt confirmed the absence of midfielder Ahmed Kouka from training, likely ruling him out of the Cairo derby due to a rib injury.
Kouka underwent a medical examination on Thursday in Riyadh, and based on the results, Koller decided to exclude him from the squad.
