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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 June - 5 July 2000 Issue No. 488 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 June - 5 July 2000 Issue No. 488
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Red-letter year
For the seventh straight year -- and the 29th time in their illustrious career -- the famed red shirts were crowned league champions. The club upped its record to 56 points, eight ahead of nearest rivals Ismaili and Zamalek with two matches remaining. So facile was the achievement, perhaps more so than that of any previous success, the only question remaining was whether the club could do it again next year, Alaa Shahine reports
The match that sealed the season hardly matched the moment. The coup de grace came after an unimpressive scoreless draw against Suez away from home. Ismaili could have kept the season on hold but a 1-1 draw against Misri ended what was a slim chance of upending the league leaders.
In this Click-GSM-sponsored season in which Ahli led from the word go, the team played 24 matches, winning 17, drawing five and losing twice, against Zamalek 2-1 in the first leg and Ismaili 4-3 two weeks ago. The team scored 38 goals with Alaa Ibrahim netting nine, six less than top scorer until now, Nigerian John Otaka of Ismaili. The club conceded 12 goals, the fewest in the league.
The league victory made up for a disappointing season elsewhere. Ahli was stopped dead in its tracks in the semi-finals of the Arab championship held in Cairo and was knocked out of the quarter-finals of the African Champions League. The two failures had threatened to end the tenure of German coach Reiner Tsobil, who, despite the barrage of criticism, managed to have his contract renewed one more year.
"I did not expect that we could win the league so easily this season," Tsobil told Al-Ahram Weekly before flying to Germany for a 10-day vacation to celebrate his third consecutive title with the team.
Despite the achievement, Ahli produced a lacklustre season, its players rarely in form, its matches rarely worth writing home about. Tsobil put the blame squarely on the lack of organisation and coordination by the Egyptian Football Association (EFA). "I said we would have a terrible season starting last May," he said. "Not just Ahli but Zamalek, Misri and Ismaili, too."
Ahli striker Mohamed Farouk about to shoot against Suez
photo: Abdel-Hamid Eid
Tsobil, a former midfielder in Germany's Bayern Munich, charged the EFA with paying too much attention to the national team while ignoring the clubs, the league and African championships. He said most of his key players had not had sufficient rest since last year in between playing for the national and Olympic teams. "Then they are expected to play in the African championship and the league."
But now that Ahli has sealed the season, which officially ends on 17 July, Tsobil can afford to grant his players the rest they need. "I gave them a 10-day break and then we will prepare for our last two matches against Kouroum and Zamalek," he said, adding he understood all too well the importance of the local derby with Zamalek, an encounter which is in a league all its own.
Tsobil said he would take advantage of the two remaining matches to prepare for the African championship which he described as Ahli's next challenge. "All my attention now is focused on the African championship along with Egypt's Cup in order to achieve the marvelous triple," he added. Ahli has reached the quarter-finals of the cup and will play against Sohag Railways, a team newly promoted to the First Division.
In other matches last week, Zamalek routed Sharqiya 7-3 to keep their hopes alive of finishing in second, a position where they have been grounded in for the past six years but now appears in jeopardy. Zamalek is in third place with 48 points, the same as Ismaili which remains in second on goal average. Sharqiya has already been relegated to the Second Division after ranking last among the league's 14 teams with only 15 points.
The Arab Contractors snatched a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Maadin, Kouroum edging Ittihad 2-0, while Mansoura and Canal drew against Dina and the relegated Aluminum 2-2 and 1-1 respectively.
