By winning on penalties in the Challenger Cup against Al-Ahly, Pachuca secured their place in the final of the Intercontinental Cup, which takes place on Wednesday evening against Champions League winners Real Madrid.
Because the Club World Cup will only take place every four years in the future with a significantly larger number of teams due to the new format, FIFA has been organizing the Intercontinental Cup since this season in order to have an annual comparison between the cup winners of the continental associations. The final of the new old competition, for which Real Madrid is seeded as the winner of the UEFA Champions League, will take place next Wednesday (6 p.m.). The Whites’ opponents have been known since Saturday.
Because the final of the Challenger Cup, which also serves as qualification for the final against Real, took place that evening. In Doha, Qatar, Pachuca CF, winners of the CONCACAF Champions Cup, faced Al-Ahly, winners of the African competition.
The Egyptians, coached by Marcel Koller (formerly of Cologne, among others), and the club from Mexico, with former Premier League striker Rondon, failed to find a winner in front of over 38,000 spectators in 120 minutes, which is why the game went to penalties.
There the first two shooters from Pachuca missed. But the next three scored, and when Al-Ahly also showed nerves and missed two penalties, the drama continued. And then Koller’s team showed nerves for the first time, allowing Pachuca to win 6-5 on penalties and advance to face Real Madrid on Wednesday.