Ahli have qualified for the Club World Cup semi-final with a 2-1 victory over Japanese champions Hiroshima Sanfrecce. A second-half strike from legendary midfielder Mohamed Abou-Treika settled the game for the African champions, who go through to meet Brazilian giants Corinthians in the semis. Abou-Treika, who came on to replace the injured Hossam Ghaly, became the Club World Cup all-time joint-leading goalscorer with his fourth in the competition. The second-half winner came after Hiroshima star Hisato Sato had cancelled out Al-Sayed Hamdi's opener for Ahli. Solid start...Ghaly blow Ahli started the brighter of the two sides and looked comfortable on the ball as the hosts were dealt an early blow when goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa was stretchered off with a head injury. The Reds' spell of quality one-touch passing was soon decoded when Fathi made a superb surging run from right before squaring for Hamdi to slide home with ease. Hiroshima came close to a quick equalizer but were thwarted by a great block from Sherif Ekrami to Hiroki Mizumoto. Although it seemed to be going their way, Ahli were hit by the injury of influential midfielder Ghaly, who was forced off with a knee injury. As his replacement Abou-Treika was warming up, Hiroshima capitalized on the one-man advantage to snatch the equalizer through a close-range effort by marksman Sato. The obviously-shaken Ahli were almost beaten again before the break but midfielder Yohiro Takahagi shockingly failed to latch onto the ball when he was one yard away from an empty net. The loss of Ghaly was a major blow to Ahli but the skipper's replacement Abou-Treika once again proved to be the savior when he netted the decisive winner shortly after half time. The veteran midfielder latched onto a long ball by Fathi before rolling home with a low effort that was almost saved by the keeper but was enough to win the game for Ahli. It turned into a one-way traffic as Ahli relied on counter attacks, while the Japanese were guilty of missing several chances to overturn their trailing. The best chance came to star striker Sato, who was sent clear on goal and had all the time in the world to finish, only for him to miss the target with Ekrami beaten. Sato then forced a good block from the Ahli keeper as the Reds held on to their slender lead to win the game.
