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Al-Ahram Weekly 2 - 8 September 1999 Issue No. 445 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 2 - 8 September 1999 Issue No. 445
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Focus Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters On the right foot
By Nashwa Abdel-TawabDefending champions Ahli began the defence of their title by beating Dina 3-0. On a humbler level Zamalek, bridesmaids for the past six years, started their quest for better things with a scoreless draw against the Arab Contractors.
Ahli entered the game with a new-look team as a result of the departure of defender Mohamed Youssef and forward Ahmed Koshari to Turkish and Swiss clubs. The team was also missing star striker Hossam Hassan, the league's top scorer last year with 15 goals, due to injury and his twin brother, attacking right-back Ibrahim. Ibrahim was suspended for one game for dissent after being benched in a mid-week match against Nigeria's Shooting Stars in an African championship clash.
Ahli's replacements showed their inexperience in the first half against Dina, unable to prolong a sustained drive towards goal. The turnaround came in the 68th minute when Ali Maher, still struggling to find his form that had made him one of the country's most feared strikers, headed from close range for a 1-0 lead. Ahli made it 2-0 13 minutes later when Alaa Ibrahim and Walid Salaheddin, both second-half substitutes, combined for a smooth give-and-take. Defender Saeed Abdel-Aziz, an off-season acquisition from Mehalla, rounded out the score with a bullet from outside the penalty area.
The win gave Ahli its first three points and showed that to an extent the club had benefited from a summer's worth of training in Germany and participating in a friendly tournament in Romania.
Following the match with Dina, Ahli's German manager Reiner Tsobil refused to attend the usual press conference after a local newspaper compared him to Adolf Hitler for what the paper said was his dictatorial ways with the players. The German Embassy in Cairo asked the coach for clarification after which Tsobil reportedly threatened to quit the club at the end of the season.
Tsobil is not the only coach who might leave. There are persistent reports that Zamalek's Mahmoud Abu Regeila, who led his club to the cup title last year, might soon be making room for a foreign or another Egyptian coach. The draw with the Contractors could only reinforce the rumours. In truth, Zamalek dominated from the outset but failed to get anything meaningful going near the Contractors' goal.
It was not a good day for clubs from Alexandria. Ismaili beat Koroum 1-0 in Alexandria with five minutes to go thanks to a powerfully struck ball by Ayman Ramadan. In Ismailia, Qanah beat Ittihad of Alexandria 1-0 in a match which saw five Qanah players and one from Ittihad receive yellow cards. A Qanah player was also shown the red card. Ahmed Fekri El-Sagheer scored Qanah's lone goal in the 56th minute.
Masri beat Mansoura 2-0 in Mansoura to add credence to speculation by some observers that the team is a viable contender for the crown. Mahmoud Abul Dahab and El-Arabi El-Sayed scored for Masri in the 25th and 44th minutes to wrap things up in the first half. The win boosted Masri's morale before their African meeting with Dragons of the Congo in the African Cup Winners Cup championship on Saturday in the Congo.
Newly-promoted Aluminium and Maaden each had their first taste of premier league football and it was bitter as the two promptly lost by identical 1-0 scores. Sharqiya beat Aluminium, Upper Egypt's only representative in the league, on Aluminium's home ground while Suez nipped Maaden in Suez. One businessman has promised Suez players new furniture for their apartments in the event that they finish fifth in the standings. Who knows what the reward will be should they finish higher.
