Al Ahly and Porto shared a 4-4 thriller in their final game at the Club World Cup on Monday but both will head home after Inter Miami and Palmeiras drew to progress to the round of 16 from Group A.
Palestine striker Wessam Abou Ali scored a hat-trick and Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane also found the net for the Egyptian champions but Porto pegged them back every time they went ahead. Teenagers Rodrigo Mora and William Gomes, substitute Samu Aghehowa and Pepe all scored for the Portuguese club as both teams all but abandoned defending in search of goals that might keep them alive in the tournament.
In the end, though, a draw was not enough for either side and the 2-2 stalemate between Inter and Palmeiras in Miami was enough to render all of the many other permutations null and void.
“I’m very sad, very, very sad,” said Abou Ali. “I feel like we should have scored maybe five, six goals in the end, the opportunity was there to at least win the game and score some goals.”
Both teams came into the match played in suffocating heat at Metlife Stadium without a goal from open play in the tournament but they made up for it in a sometimes frenetic contest.
Al Ahly took the early initiative and got their reward when Abou Ali gave them the lead in the 15th minute with a cool finish into the far corner of the net.
Lively 18-year-old Mora equalised eight minutes later after skipping through the Al Ahly defence and past goalkeeper Mohamed El-Shenawy before clipping the ball into the net.
Egypt midfielder Zizo was brought down in the box by Fabio Vieira running onto an Abou Ali cutback in stoppage time at the end of the first, and the Palestinian sent Claudio Ramos the wrong way from the spot to put Al Ahly 2-1 up at the break.
Three goals in three minutes soon after the break had the scores back level at 3-3 in the 53rd minute, Gomes starting it all off by curling a beautiful shot into the top right-hand corner of the net. Abou Ali then completed his hat-trick with a powerful header from a corner but Aghehowa responded in kind almost immediately down the other end. Ben Romdhane put Al Ahly back in front with a lovely strike from the edge of the box in the 64th minute and the Egyptian side poured forward looking to boost their goal difference in case the result in Miami went their way.
Al Ahly missed a host of gilt-edged chances, however, and Pepe ensured the honours would be shared when he drilled a shot from the edge of the box past Al Ahly captain El-Shenawy a minute from time.
“I think the game in the second half was not a normal football game anymore,” said Al Ahly coach Jose Riveiro. “A good show for the fans, I guess, a lot of goals. Not the result, obviously, that we were looking for, because we wanted to go through.”