{"id":32591,"date":"2026-04-21T09:35:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T07:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=32591"},"modified":"2026-04-21T09:35:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T07:35:15","slug":"usm-alger-brace-for-tough-zamalek-test-in-caf-confederation-cup-final","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/usm-alger-brace-for-tough-zamalek-test-in-caf-confederation-cup-final\/","title":{"rendered":"USM Alger brace for tough Zamalek test in CAF Confederation Cup final \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>USM Alger coach Lamine Ndiaye says his side are in for a \u201cvery difficult\u201d challenge when they face Egypt\u2019s Zamalek in the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Confederation Cup final, even after praising his players for digging deep to reach the showpiece.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>USM progressed to the final on away goals after a tense 1-1 draw against Olympique Safi in Morocco, with Ahmed Khaldi\u2019s penalty proving crucial in a tightly contested semi-final.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ndiaye described the encounter as a \u201creal battle\u201d that was repeatedly interrupted, but said his team showed the kind of discipline and character needed at this stage of the competition.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Looking ahead, he was clear that the final will be a step up. He pointed to Zamalek\u2019s experience and strong defensive structure as key threats, warning that his side will have to be at their best to compete with the Egyptian giants in the CAF Confederation Cup final.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":32592,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-32591","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"USM Alger coach Lamine Ndiaye says his side are in for a \u201cvery difficult\u201d challenge when they face Egypt\u2019s Zamalek","published_date":"2026-04-21 09:18:42","news_description":"USM Alger coach Lamine Ndiaye says his side are in for a \u201cvery difficult\u201d challenge when they face Egypt\u2019s Zamalek","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32593,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32591\/revisions\/32593"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=32591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}