Pachuca vs Al Ahly Prediction: A low-scoring encounter expected here

Pachuca and Al Ahly will lock horns at the Stadium 974 on Saturday in the fight for a place in the final of the FIFA Intercontinental Cup. The winner of this game will face Real Madrid in the final on Wednesday. Below are previews, possible starting 11, expert betting tips, and odds.

Pachuca won 3-0 over Botafogo RJ in the quarterfinals of this competition during the midweek. After a stalemate first 45 minutes, Oussama Idrissi opened the scoring in the 50th minute before Nelson Deossa doubled the lead in the 66th minute, and Salomon Rondon made it 3-0 in the 80th minute. It was a surprising win after this side had performed below par in the Mexican League with just 13 points in 17 games to place them two places above the bottom of the table. They have won two of their last nine games. Moreover, Matías Zaracho, Cadu, and Sergio Barreto are out of this game.

Al Ahly recorded a 3-0 win over Al-Ain in the quarterfinals of this competition with goals from Wessam Abou Ali in the 32nd minute before Emam Ashour doubled the lead in the 55th minute and Afsha extended the lead in the 90+2nd minute. They played the match back in November and have remained unbeaten since then. They are now unbeaten in their last 12 games in all competitions. However, Oufa Shobeir, Mohamed Hany, and Karim Fouad are out of this game due to injuries.

Pachuca — Moreno, Rodriguez, Barreto, Micolta, Gonzalez, Pedraza, Montiel, Bautista, Gonzalez, Idrissi, Rondon.

Al Ahly — El Shenawy, Kamal, Rabia, Ibrahim, Allah, Tawfik, Ateya, Mhamed, Slim, Ashour; Abou Ali.

Pachuca might not have been performing well in their domestic games this season; they have been great in the FIFA Intercontinental Cup, where they have kept three clean sheets in their last 4 games. Nevertheless, they have played a draw in the first half of five of their previous six games. So, I expect the first of this game to follow suit. Also, while Pachuca are good defensively, 4 of Al Ahly's last five games have seen less than three goals. So, I believe that in this game, fewer goals will be scored. Moreover, Al Ahly failed to score in their last two matches despite remaining unbeaten in their previous 12 games in all competitions.

• HT: X for 2.00 odds
• Under 2.5 for 1.65 odds
• BTTS-NO for 1.83 odds