Free fall, fall-free
The resumption of the football league saw Ahli crash once more and Zamalek maintain a clean sheet.Eric Asomugha reports
After a more than one-month break the Egyptian Premiership resumed and what a re-start it was. Ittihad of Alexandria upstaged Ahli to win 3-2 for their first win over the red shirts in 25 years.
At Alexandria Stadium on Saturday, Ittihad hosted Ahli, Egypt's most successful club in history, but which is presently struggling after a string of poor performances this season. The loss left Ahli in eighth place with just six points from five matches.
It was another wake up call for Ahli but their recovery will be exceedingly difficult at this stage of the competition. On Sunday, Ahli's board, led by club President Hassan Hamdi, decided to do without the services of Ibrahim Said, Rami El-Sayed and Ahmed Salah Hosni and to put up the three for sale. They are to be replaced by players from the youth squad in another attempt to right the sinking club.
For Ittihad, though, it was sweet revenge for decades of playing bridesmaid to Ahli. The win also propelled the Alexandrians to third place on 14 points. This is in stark contrast to last year when the club was in danger of being relegated.
The match was also one of the best played in this albeit young season as attacking football was the order of the day. Ittihad took the lead in the 34th minute through Mohamed Sharaf who found himself in front of only goalkeeper Essam El-Hadari to beat. A number of skirmishes between hot-tempered players teams did not change the score before the break.
In the second, Walid Salaheddin answered Ahli after they let him go last year by spearheading an attack against his former club, which resulted in the second goal when Salaheddin gave a million-dollar back pass inside the box to Hossam Mostafa who slammed in a grounder with no answer from El-Hadari.
Ahli had earlier levelled up 1-1 through Ahmed El-Sayed who headed in Khalid Bibo's cross from the right flank. Ahli pressed harder for another goal but Ittihad stood firm in defence.
On the other side, a porous defence cost Ahli the match when substitute Khalid El-Adawi on his first contact with the ball dribbled his way into the box, and past the goalkeeper to score the third goal, which sealed the victory for Ittihad.
Ahli managed to reduce the tally to 3-2 through a well-taken free kick by last season's top scorer Ahmed Bilal.
In Cairo, meanwhile, Zamalek thrashed Aswan 4-0 to maintain their perfect record of six wins in six games to continue topping the league table with 18 points.
Abdel-Halim Ali, Tamer Abdel-Hamid, Hazem Imam and Wael El-Qabbani were the scorers.
ENPPI is tied with Ittihad on points but lead on goal difference. Sawahel, or the Border Guards, are fourth with 11 points. Ismaili, which have an outstanding match against Mehalla, are fifth.
The three bottom of the ladder teams are Qanah with three points, Aswan two and Koroum one.
All league action took place under the framework of week six of the Egyptian premier league for 2003/2004 season after a more than one-month break due to continental engagements by the senior national and age group teams.
The fixtures for week seven and kick off time on 9 November are:
Baladia v Mehalla (2pm); ENPPI v Ittihad (2pm); Aswan v Mansoura (2pm); Ismaili v Zamalek (8pm); Koroum v Tersana (8pm); Ahli v Sawahel (8pm); and Misri v Qanah (8pm).
