29 March - 4 April 2001
Issue No.527
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 29 March - 4 April 2001 Issue No.527 |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
The loser moves up
Despite losing, Ahli advanced to the quarter-finals of the football Cup. Not so Zamalek, writes Abeer Anwar
While Zamalek is on the verge of winning the football league, it didn't even come close to capturing the cup. Although it led 2-0 and 3-1, Zamalek could not finish Qanah off and the star-studded club was stopped dead in its tracks. Unable to reach even the quarter-finals of the competition, the team widely expected to notch its first league title in seven years was dumped unceremoniously by upstarts Qanah on penalties after both clubs had drawn on aggregate score. Qanah had won 3-2 at home before Zamalek hit back, winning by the same score in Cairo.
Defending league champions Ahli, their league crown almost beyond reach, now look to the cup for some saving grace to this season after qualifying for the quarter-finals. The club lost to Misri 2-1 in their second-leg match in Port Said but managed to squeeze into the final eight by virtue of its 2-0 win in Cairo two weeks earlier. The Port Said encounter saw linesman Khaled Morgan hit on the head by an object thrown from the stands. Though injured and shaken, Morgan soldiered on.
Ahli's Khalid Bibo opened the scoring which meant Misri needed four goals to win outright. It managed two by half-time but could go no further.
Second division club Nabarou beat Dina 2-1, giving two Daqahliya clubs, Nabarou and Qanah, quarter-final berths in the cup for the first time.
In other qualifying matches, Mansoura comfortably beat Sohag Seka Hadid 4-1, Maaden edged Aluminum 2-1, the Arab Contractors defeated Faraskour 2-0, Ittihad dumped Sohag 6-1 and Ghazl Al-Mehalla scraped by Rabat and Anwar 2-1.
The first-leg matches of the quarter-final round will be played on 4 May while the second-leg is on 1 June. In first-leg action, Ahli will meet Ittihad of Alexandria, Arab Contractors takes on Maaden, Mehalla faces Mansoura and Qanah goes up against Nabarou.
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