 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 25 Nov. - 1 Dec. 1999 Issue No. 457 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 25 Nov. - 1 Dec. 1999 Issue No. 457
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Surprise, surprise
League soccer was jolted by some mild tremors and other Richter-sized shakes as the results table stood on its heels in the 12th week of the Click GSM-sponsored season. The surprising results injected new life into a season whose players have been charged in the media with simply going through the motions.
Ahli puts the pressure on Kouroum
Zamalek, perennial also-rans, threatened to keep its status quo intact, first by losing 1-0 against Sharqiya, then drawing at home to Ittihad of Alexandria. The twin shockers added fuel to the spate of rumours making the rounds that some Zamalek players were conspiring to deliberately play poorly in an attempt to get rid of both their head coach Mahmoud Abu Regela and manager Ibrahim Youssef. Following the game with Ittihad, Abu Regela said his team would continue its losing ways unless management stepped in to end what he called "this mess". The 'mess' has seen Zamalek squander 13 points from 10 matches, leaving it with 17 points, one less than new league leaders Ahli and just one point ahead of Ittihad.
Against Ittihad, Zamalek played minus several key players who Abu Regela had suspended following the embarrassing loss to Sharqiya. Still, the squad did not fare badly and was kept off the scoresheet mainly by referee Adam Hassan's insistence not to award at least one out of four arguable penalty kicks.
Kamel Youssef was Sharqiya's hero, when in the 45th minute, he pounced on a loose ball which defender Sami El-Shisheeny was unable to control, found himself in a one-on-one confrontation with goalkeeper Abdel-Wahid El-Sayed, then calmly tucked the ball in. Zamalek's attempts to level the score in the second half were met by a rock-solid defence.
In contrast, Ahli's fortunes continued to rise. Hossam Hassan scored the winning goal on the stroke of regulation time to give Ahli a precious 2-1 away win against Kouroum in Alexandria and propel it to the top of the table. The veteran striker latched on to a pinpoint cross from Sayed Abdel-Hafeez, striking a picture-perfect header that sailed into the top left-hand corner of the goal. The victory maintained Ahli's perfect record of 18 points from six victories in as many games. Because of Arab and African club championship commitments, the team still has four games pending. Kouroum failed to add to its 11 points.
Kouroum had levelled the score 1-1 just five minutes earlier and seemed destined to secure a point before Hassan's last-gasp effort. The referee gave Ahli's German coach Reiner Tsobil his walking papers in the second half as tempers flared.
Earlier in the week, Ahli had little trouble in beating Suez 3-1 although Ahli was scored upon for the first time up to that point. All of Ahli's goals were scored in the first half -- Abdel-Hafeez in the sixth minute, Farouk in the 21st minute and Mohamed Gouda in the 37th minute -- in what was arguably the club's best team effort of the season. However, the fluidity turned to drudgery in the second half with a lacklustre performance which ended with Ahli defender Ahmed Abdel-Zaher scoring an own goal, a header which completely befuddled El-Hadari. The goal, the first against Ahli this season, ended the goalkeeper's dream of breaking the club record of 11 consecutive games without being scored upon, set by Ikramy in the mid-1970's.
Newly-promoted Maadin pulled off one of the year's biggest upsets when it beat Ismaili 2-1. Not to be outdone, Dina blasted Sharqiya 4-1 to take a surprising third place position in the standings. And in yet another unexpected result, Suez edged the Arab Contractors 1-0, presenting new Suez coach Farouk Gaafar a welcome gift.
Ittihad had snatched a hard-fought 1-0 victory over city rivals Kouroum in a match which brought back grisly memories of last year's stadium stampede which killed eight people. That incident occurred prior to the Ittihad-Kouroum derby when thousands of fans, fighting to get into the stadium, jammed up in front of one of the few open gates, consequently creating a death crush.
On the same day, Arab Contractors beat Maadin 2-1 in Cairo.
Mansoura conquered Dina 3-1. Mansoura's star striker Walid Salah Abdel-Latif, who had been embroiled in controversy after entertaining hopes of playing in Turkey without his club's authorisation, promptly scored twice, the next best thing to a public apology. Mansoura's third goal came by way of Mohamed Mahmoud while Magdi Mohamed scored Dina's lone goal.
Aluminium and Canal played to a goalless draw.
