Urawa Red Diamonds vs Al Ahly Predictions

• Al Ahly competed well against Brazil’s Fluminense for large periods.
• Al Ahly have finished third in this competition in two of the last three seasons.
• Urawa managed just two attempts against Man City, none on target.

Third place up for grabs in Jeddah

Japan’s Urawa and Egyptian outfit Al Ahly meet in the Club World Cup third place play-off on Friday, before Manchester City and Fluminense meet in the final later in the day.

It is always hard to judge how a team will approach these third place games after missing out on a spot in the final so backing the underdog is always tempting – but it isn’t just the price that has me leaning towards Al Ahly here.

Al Ahly have plenty of experience in the Club World Cup and this is their fourth consecutive appearance in this competition, and they have finished third in two of the last three seasons.

The CAF Champions League holders gave a good account of themselves in their semi-final tie with Brazil’s Fluminense and they dominated for large periods early on before the South Americans took control in the second half.

A similar performance on Friday might be enough to take down Japan’s Urawa, who barely laid a glove on Manchester City as they had just 26% possession and managed just two attempts – neither of which was on target.

Al Ahly’s defeat to Fluminense ended a nine-game unbeaten run but Urawa head into this game in poor form with six defeats in their last 10 games, so backing Al Ahly as the underdogs looks a good option here.

However, we should probably expect an improved showing here from Urawa against an opponent they should be able to compete against after their one-sided loss to City.

Urawa had scored in eight consecutive games prior to their loss to City and Al Ahly have conceded in three of their last four wins, so a 2-1 win for Al Ahly is the correct score prediction.

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