Three-piece win
Egypt's three football clubs played away from home in African events but it didn't matter, reports Abeer Anwar
Baladeyet Al-Mehalla, Zamalek and Ismaili emerged victorious from three separate away games in the second-leg of their respective African club campaigns.
On Friday, Baladeyet became the first of the Egyptian teams to advance to round 16 when they tied with Police FC of Uganda in Kampala in the African Cup Winners Cup. Baladeyet had comfortably won the first-leg 4-1 at home.
The first game score was always going to make it difficult for the Police; Baladeyet hardly broke a sweat in game two. Even playing in Mandela Stadium in front of 3,000 supporters hardly helped Police.
The Egyptians barely attacked and stuck to a defensive game plan most of the time. It makes for dull soccer when only one side is interested in attacking but Baladeyet, making their first-ever appearance in a major African club championship, would not complain.
"I am very satisfied with the result," Farouk Gaafar, Baladeyet's coach said. "The players followed the defence plan strictly and this is what we wanted -- to keep our net clean." Gaafar said that most of the players were new and, consequently, lacked African experience. "It's the first time for some of them to leave their country on an African mission."
Essam Marei, the team's assistant coach, added that the lack of oxygen because of the high altitude also affected the performance of the players who appeared tired and out of shape by the second half.
In the African Champions League, Ismaili drew 0-0 away to Zanaco of Zambia in Lusaka.
Ismaili, the defending Egyptian league champions, had won the first leg by the narrowest of margins 1-0. The score meant that the club was in the most danger of the Egyptians of failing to advance.
The Lusaka stadium had neither electricity nor water but such nuisances failed to dampen Ismaili's spirit. Mohamed Sobhi, Ismaili's goalkeeper, held Zanaco at bay whenever the occasion arose which were few.
The match was supposed to have been aired on Egyptian TV but viewers were treated to only the first half even though the Egyptian Embassy in Zambia agreed to pay $7, 000 to have the match broadcast.
In the same championship, defending champions Zamalek scored the most impressive result, trouncing Nzoia Sugar of Kenya in Nairobi 4-1 for a stunning 7-1 aggregate. Zamalek handily won game one 3-0 in Cairo.
Apparently the apples, pineapple and bananas the team fed on in the absence of anything more substantial did not hurt. It was the second highest score an Egyptian team had ever registered away, second only to Ahli's 5-0 win in 1987 against a team from Swaziland.
Zamalek flew to Nairobi one week before game time without practicing once due to the poor condition of the field. Zamalek's Brazilian coach Capral resorted to oral sessions where he explained tactics. The lessons were learnt. Abdel-Halim Ali opened the scoring in the 18th minute while Hazem Emam, Gamal Hamza and Tarek El-Saeed added three more goals in the second before Nzoia scored their consolation goal.
Another Egyptian squad, Ahli, automatically jumped to round 16 in the Federations Cup because of the opponent's default. Ahli will thus start its African journey against Ansar of Libya next month May. No Egyptian squad has ever won the Federations Cup in which eligibility goes to teams who finish second in their league.
Following their African adventures, Ismaili and Zamalek players who are on the national team headed for Paris where Egypt and France will meet in a friendly on Wednesday (30 April).
On the same day, but in Cairo, Egypt and the French Olympic football squads play in yet another friendly.
