Not even the rich St. John helped to clean up the bad image

As fate would have it, the first ever duel between FC Porto and Al Ahly had very little at stake. A lot or a little, depending on the different perspectives of analysis. After the draw against Palmeiras, which promised to galvanize the team to confirm the theoretical favoritism in the remaining matches, the dragons were even superior to Inter Miami in the first half, but the second half was nothing more than a mirage and the performance dropped drastically, in what has been one of the main trademarks of the 2024/25 version of the Porto emblem. In the end, the defeat was dear, with Martín Anselmi's team going into this last round forced to beat the Egyptians and having to hope for a "miracle" to progress. Even so, leaving the competition with a win meant leaving a good image at the end of a season practically to forget and collecting yet another series of "changes".

New York New Jersey welcomes @FCPorto and @AlAhly . ???? ???? #FIFACWC pic.twitter.com/zthAbcnk9w

— FIFA Club World Cup (@FIFACWC) June 23, 2025

After André Villas-Boas called the defeat “disgraceful”, changes were expected to Martín Anselmi’s starting eleven, with Nehuen Pérez and Gonçalo Borges emerging as the main candidates to join the team. Still without Diogo Costa — who is still recovering from injury —, Cláudio Ramos remained solid in goal, even more so after a match in which he prevented the negative result from being more significant. On the negative side, the adverse weather conditions in the United States did their thing again and, on the eve of this decisive match, the Dragons had to postpone one of their training sessions due to a storm that hit New Jersey, which led the authorities to activate the safety protocol. Even so, the team managed to train at Rugers University, where their headquarters are located.

“I believe that, in addition to thinking about the opponent, we have to think about ourselves. We have to compete differently. We feel that in the last match we didn’t compete as we want, both offensively and defensively. Our pride is hurt and that’s not the image we want to project. We have an opportunity to change that image, against a powerful opponent from the African continent, who has won two of the last four Champions Leagues. They have a good coach, dynamic players… They are three-time champions. We have to do our job well. We have talked a lot about our mistakes. We talk among ourselves, we know that we made mistakes and we can’t allow that to happen. We don’t want to go through the Club World Cup with this image. We know that in Porto it’s a festive day, an important day for the city and we want the party to be complete. To do that, we have to win and give the fans that joy”, said the Argentine coach in the preview of the match.

FC Porto v Al Ahly (4-4)

3rd round of Group A of the Club World Cup

MetLife Stadium, in East Rutherford (United States)

Referee: Jesús Valenzuela (Venezuela)

FC Porto: Claudio Ramos; Ze Pedro, Stephen Eustaquio, Ivan Marcano; John Mario (Martim Fernandes, 62'), Alan Varela (Goncalo Borges, 46'), Fabio Vieira (Gabri Veiga, 68'), Francisco Moura; William Gomes (Pepê, 68'), Danny Namaso (Samu Aghehowa, 46') and Rodrigo Mora

Substitutes not used: Diogo Fernandes;

Coach: Martin Anselmi

Al Ahly: Mohamed El-Shenawy; Mohamed Hany, Achraf Dari, Ahmed Ramadan, Ahmed Koka; Zizo, Ali Ben Romdhane (Afsha, 87'), Hamdi Fathi (Aliou Dieng, 35'), Hussein El Shahat (Omar Kamal, 58'); Trezeguet (Achraf Bencharki, 58') and Abou Ali (Nejc Gradisar, 58')

Unused substitutes: Mohamed Seha, Mostafa Ahmed, Mostafa Makhlouf; Khaled Mohamed, Yasser Ibrahim, Karim El Debes, Mostafa Al Aash, Yahia Allah, Reda Slim and Taher Mohamed

Coach: Jose Riveiro

Goals: Abou Ali (15', 45+2', gp and 51'), Mora (23'), William Gomes (50'), Samu (53'), Ben Romdhane (64') and Pepê (89')

Disciplinary action: yellow card to Hany (25'), Ramadan (54'), Bencharki (60'), Dari (68') and Luis Pastur (assistant, 74')

For this match, Anselmi made three changes to the starting eleven, with Stephen Eustáquio jumping into the starting eleven in exchange for Martim Fernandes. In attack, William Gomes and Danny Namaso were chosen to play alongside Rodrigo Mora, with Gabri Veiga and Samu Aghehowa starting the match on the bench. For the Red Devils, José Riveiro opted to change the tactical scheme and start Ahmed Ramadan, Ahmed Koka and Hussein El Shahat.

With Al Ahly playing practically at home at the Hard Rock Stadium, which was still quite empty, Anselmi's 4-4-2 formation, with Eustáquio in the middle, Fábio Vieira on the right and Mora alongside Namaso, caused few problems for an Egyptian team that started to dominate and made more incursions in attack. Even so, the first opportunity fell to the Dragons, with João Mário isolating Mora after a corner, but the Portuguese was unable to finish in good condition (14'). In the next move, Namaso misplaced a pass and left the ball at the feet of Hamdi Fathi, who only had to drive and set up Abou Ali for the opening goal (15'). FC Porto reacted well to the goal conceded and, within a minute, William almost equalised, hitting the crossbar (19') and then being saved by Mohamed El-Shenawy (20).

Abou Ali puts Al Ahly ahead.

???? @FIFACWC | @FCPorto 0 x 1 @AlAhly @FIFACWC | 14 June – 13 July | Watch all the games for free at https://t.co/fpfuiyzIoG ???? All the games live and exclusive on the DAZN app. pic.twitter.com/wcv3GddcDA

— DAZN Portugal (@DAZNPortugal) June 24, 2025

With Inter Miami helping the Portuguese team in their mission and after Al Ahly had a goal disallowed, Porto created a great move in the middle, with Zé Pedro passing to João Mário and the Portuguese player passing to Namaso who, after turning around a defender, left it to Rodrigo Mora to do his thing. The young Portuguese player went after two defenders, got past them with some luck on the rebound and, with El-Shenawy opposing him, dribbled past him and scored the equaliser (23′). The Egyptians responded in the final minutes of the first half, with Zizo dribbling past João Mário and Zé Pedro before attempting a goal from the flag that went wide (39′). In the next move, the forward found himself in space inside the area again, but shot into the hands of Cláudio Ramos (40′). Just before half-time, Vieira brought down Zizo inside the box and, from the penalty spot, Abou Ali scored twice (45+2′).

RODRIGO MORAAAAA's class ????

???? @FIFACWC | @FCPorto 1 x 1 @AlAhly @FIFACWC | 14 June – 13 July | Watch all the games for free at https://t.co/fpfuiyzIoG | #FIFACWC #TakeItToTheWorld ???? All the games live and exclusive on the DAZN app. pic.twitter.com/WRWJqAzKZC

— DAZN Portugal (@DAZNPortugal) June 24, 2025

Abou Ali scores twice and puts Al Ahly back in front.

???? @FIFACWC | @FCPorto 1 x 2 @AlAhly @FIFACWC | 14 June – 13 July | Watch all the games for free at https://t.co/fpfuiyzIoG ???? All the games live and exclusive on the DAZN app. pic.twitter.com/FswyeQ14kp

— DAZN Portugal (@DAZNPortugal) June 24, 2025

For the second half, Anselmi brought on Gonçalo Borges and Samu, taking off Alan Varela and Namaso, and the reaction was almost immediate, with William scoring a great goal with a right-footed curling shot in the opening moments (50'). The match then entered a frenetic rhythm and, in the next attack, Abou Ali scored the hat-trick with a header (51'). In another response, Fábio Vieira took a corner from the right for the second, where Samu appeared to win in the air and strike for the 3-3 draw (53'). Shortly afterwards, the midfielder on loan from Arsenal took charge of a free-kick inside the half-moon, but his shot went over (54'). With Martim Fernandes in place of João Mário, the goals continued to come, now for the Egyptian side, with Ali Ben Romdhane receiving the ball at the edge of the area and unleashing a great curved shot to make it 3-4 (64').

William Gomes with a great goal ????

???? @FIFACWC | @FCPorto 2 x 2 @AlAhly @FIFACWC | 14 June – 13 July | Watch all the games for free at https://t.co/fpfuiyzIoG ???? All the games live and exclusive on the DAZN app. pic.twitter.com/Y8yjPqmJPH

— DAZN Portugal (@DAZNPortugal) June 24, 2025

Abou Ali scores the hat-trick.

???? @FIFACWC | @FCPorto 2 x 3 @AlAhly @FIFACWC | 14 June – 13 July | Watch all the games for free at https://t.co/fpfuiyzIoG ???? All the games live and exclusive on the DAZN app. pic.twitter.com/P4ImX1zR4O

— DAZN Portugal (@DAZNPortugal) June 24, 2025

SAMUUUU draws the match again ???? What game ????

???? @FIFACWC | @FCPorto 3 x 3 @AlAhly @FIFACWC | 14 June – 13 July | Watch all the games for free at https://t.co/fpfuiyzIoG ???? All the games live and exclusive on the DAZN app. pic.twitter.com/l6vC6pXMrW

— DAZN Portugal (@DAZNPortugal) June 24, 2025

Romdhane puts Al Ahly ahead for the fourth time.

???? @FIFACWC | @FCPorto 3 x 4 @AlAhly @FIFACWC | 14 June – 13 July | Watch all the games for free at https://t.co/fpfuiyzIoG ???? All the games live and exclusive on the DAZN app. pic.twitter.com/xrWxRy2JAZ

— DAZN Portugal (@DAZNPortugal) June 24, 2025

With the game becoming increasingly divided, Gabri Veiga and Pepê were the last options to come off the bench. Borges tried from distance, with another curling shot, but El-Shenawy saved it for a corner (76'). Shortly after, the winger crossed well to the far post and, completely alone, Samu headed the ball wide, with everything to do better (83'). At the end of the match, Gabri Veiga found Pepê unmarked in the middle and, from outside the area, the Brazilian struck a right-footed shot for another draw (89'). Despite both teams being eliminated, the game continued to be electrifying until the end, but there was no time for anyone to untie the knot (4-4).

Pepê and FC Porto still believe ????

???? @FIFACWC | @FCPorto 4 x 4 @AlAhly @FIFACWC | 14 June – 13 July | Watch all the games for free at https://t.co/fpfuiyzIoG | #FIFACWC #TakeItToTheWorld ???? All the games live and exclusive on the DAZN app. pic.twitter.com/9u8QIG8u2p

— DAZN Portugal (@DAZNPortugal) June 24, 2025

The pearl

• It's not every day that you score three goals in a competition like the Club World Cup. This was Abou Ali's night, a forward full of opportunism who, with Al Ahly, has scored more goals than he has played. All that was missing was qualification to crown a performance to remember.

• William Gomes was the main figure in this latest version of FC Porto in 2024/25. It is true that he only arrived in January, but the idea remains that the Brazilian deserved more opportunities. Against Al Ahly, the winger showed all his quality on the ball and left the match with an anthology goal.

• The math is simple and ends up resulting in the elimination of both teams, who head to Portugal and Egypt with just two points in their luggage.

• Can a game with eight goals and a fight from the first to the last minute not count for anything? It can. The expression is too reductive, but what is certain is that Tuesday's game counts for little or nothing as far as the competition is concerned. A completely open game was expected and the protagonists did not disappoint expectations, fighting for victory until the end.