Al-Ahram Weekly | Sports | A week of drear

		17 - 23 October 2002 Issue No. 608 Sports	Current issue Previous issue Site map
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Recommend this page

A week of drear
The third week of the national league championship has seen Ahli and Zamalek retain their lead spots. Inas Mazhar looks into the action

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Zamalek's Walid Salah Abdel- Latif tackled by a Tersana defender
To say the opening match of the third week was lackluster would not be quite just. Zamalek beat Tersana 2-0 in the opening game. The match, fans and critics agreed, was the most boring of all. Zamalek's famous players -- known to be the most talented and skilled, refrained from displaying any of those qualities and instead surprised their fans with their modest and lazy performances. Tersana's players too did little to applaud; showing nothing of their so-called ambition to snatch the spotlight.
In the second half -- with Zamalek leading 1-0 -- the referee sent out two Tersana players respectively for tackling their opponents.
The only two serious attempts at commendable play were those that resulted in the two goals scored by Zamalek's Walid Salah Abdel--Latif and team captain Khaled El-Ghandour in the 11th and 45th minutes of the second half of the match.
The second disappointment of the week was Ismaili's sudden defeat to Baladiyet Mehalla 1-0, who snatched a surprising goal two minutes into the injury time. The defending champions Ismaili -- who never lost a game last season -- was suffering under the loss of the team's key player Mohamed Barakat, who left to play for Saudi Arabia. Ismaili had sold Barakat in the hope of solving the club's financial problems, but instead, they seem to be paying another price. Another factor behind the team's loss was Farouk Gafaar's public episode of staying and leaving after receiving a lucrative offer from Saudi Arabia. He filled the air with his mysterious statements about his whereabouts and plans, leaving officials, fans and players in bewilderment. After the team's defeat, however, things changed. In a fast attempt to save face, Gafaar quit the mish-mash of statements and announced that he accepted the Saudi offer and has therefore resigned. The club management's dignity- saving retaliation was their announcement that they fired Gafaar for his poor play.
Ahli was having better luck. Finally, the team appeared to be fast overcoming its regional failure at the African Championship with a hard win over Ittihad of Alexandria 1-0. Surprisingly, the team's superstar Khaled Bibo -- who has been sidelined by head coach Joe Bonfrere -- scored his team's sole goal 24 minutes into the second half. With this victory, Ahli maintained its spot in the lead of the league standings with nine points. Zamalek stands by its side.
In other matches; Mehalla and Enpi played to a 1-1 draw. Enpi now has seven points compared to Mehalla's four. The Arab Contractors and Mansoura also drew 1-1 while Sawahel beat Goldi 1-0 and Masri scored a 2-0 victory over Aswan.
The situation of the national league remains much the same: Monopoloised by the nation's two greats; Ahli and Zamalek. The fans wait anxiously for one to take over.

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