28 March - 3 April 2002
Issue No.579
|
Al-Ahram Weekly Online 28 March - 3 April 2002 Issue No.579 |
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Victorious four
Egypt's four clubs moved to round 16 of African club football championships. Nashwa Abdel-Tawab reports on how they advanced
Egypt's four representatives in Africa's three major club soccer championships stayed on track, getting by the first round unscathed.
Zamalek and Ahli moved to round 16 in the African Champions League after two goalless matches. Zamalek tied with APR Rwanda in Rwanda after crushing the team 6-0 in the first leg in Cairo. The enormous cushion allowed Zamalek to relax, so much so that manager Otto Pfister preferred to save star midfielder Hazim Emam for a key league encounter with Ismaili on Saturday.
After an unconvincing win at home two weeks ago, Ahli drew 0-0 with Kenyan squad Oserian Fatsac in Nairobi. The Egyptians, the defending champions, won the first leg at home 2-1 but had clearly underestimated their lesser-known opponents.
In Nairobi, in the second half, the hosts came close to netting the goal that would have won the series for them. However, goalkeeper Essam El-Hadari came up big with two acrobatic saves.
Ahli threatened to score twice but Mohamed Farouk botched up the easiest of tap-ins while the Kenyan woodwork prevented Khaled Bibo's last-minute cheeky effort from entering.
The Ugandan Express came to an abrupt halt at Mehalla
(photo: Magdi Abdel-Sayed)
In the Federation Cup, Misri beat Kenya's Mathare United 2-0, the same result that occurred in Port Said city earlier this month.
Misri's tactics in Kenya revolved around a rock-solid defence and a swift counter-attack led by its two African acquisitions, Mohamed Mohamed and Keita. On one of those rapid- fire raids, in the 26th minute, Keita strode into the area, offered the ball to Mohamed who had little trouble putting the ball in to give Misri the lead at the 26th minute.
At that point, the home side needed four goals to win on aggregate, an almost impossible task. But they tried just the same, leaving their defence open for Mohamed to double the score in the 56th minute. Misri next meet BDF of Botswana.
Ghazl El-Mehalla was the first Egyptian team to go through to the second stage, knocking off Express of Uganda 4-1 on penalties in a wild finish in the Cup Winners' Cup. The match in Mehalla ended 2-1 in Mehalla's favour but the shoot-out was employed because Express had won the first- leg 2-1 in Kampala.
The advantage of playing in their hometown did not appear to help Mehalla much. They did go ahead following a beautifully-timed header by Ramadan Ragab in the 61st minute. But Hassan Nobero scored for Express in the 72nd minute, levelling the score which, had it stood, would have seen the Ugandans through.
Just one minute later, though, Ekrami Abdel-Aziz put Mehalla ahead by a goal. The same player could have done Express in when Mehalla was awarded a penalty in the final minute of play. Abdel-Aziz's shot, however, was blasted over the bar.
In the shoot-out, Mehalla's keeper Nasr Farouk saved two out of three attempts made by Express. All four Mehalla players were penalty perfect.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| ARCHIVES Letter from the Editor Editorial Board Subscription Advertise! |
WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg |
 Al-Ahram Organisation |
Recommend this page