Silence of the fans
Zamalek beat arch-rivals Ahli in week nine of the Egyptian football league. Eric Asomugha reports
Before a jam-packed stadium oozing with excitement and anticipation, Zamalek silenced Ahli 1-0, ending the optimism-fuelled spirits of Ahli fans.
The decisive moment came in the 18th minute, when a goal by Gamal Hamza confirmed the direction of the Zamalek-slanted match. The first-half was characterised by a flurry of Zamalek chances missed to increase the lead, and the second half was one that saw Ahli work effortlessly to change the game tempo -- with only one good opportunity missed in the 90 minutes of play.
Zamalek, playing a more relaxed game from kick-off, had a quick first opportunity in the first minute of play when Zamalek's Tareq El-Sayed was brought down by Ahli's Gomaa while trying to tease his way into the box. Essam El-Hadari was quick to save the well taken free kick by Hazem.
Ahli managed to squeeze in some sluggish counter attacks, but their men were shy upfront, losing balls easily to their opponents.
The rest of the half saw Zamalek attacking continually, commendably, but never quite managing to capitalise fully on their attempts. Hazem shot wide in 20th minute, Gomaa cleared a possible goal in the 23rd minute after Abdel- Halim beat El-Hadari in the air.
About 10 minutes later, Gamal Hamza dribbled his way into the box with a shot pass to Abdel-Halim -- who managed to regain position and shot straight into the keeper's waiting hands.
Another possible opportunity for Zamalek was in the 32nd minute, when Abdel-Halim's shot was denied a goal by the crossbar. In the 39th minute, Gamal's poor control in front of goal denied him a second goal.
Before the break, Ahli almost grabbed the equaliser through a deflection, but goalkeeper Abdel-Wahed made a magnificent save before the break.
After the break, Ahli's coach Fathi Mabrouk -- who replaced the sacked Portuguese coach -- made two changes to rejuvenate Ahli's team work and curtail Zamalek's attack.
In the 59th minute, Ahli got what seemed to be the only closest chance to equalise, when substitute Mahmoud Felix made a pass to another sub, Wael Riyad, who hurriedly shot off-target.
Ahli consistently attempted to pile pressure, but the moves seemed to lack the attacking force which Ahli is renown for, and Zamalek defence was quick to thwart them.
Zamalek, however -- which did show some weakness in the half -- managed to impress their fans despite missing a few more chances. Ahli stole the show in the last five minutes, forcing Zamalek back to their shell, but unable to score.
The result meant Zamalek extended their lead in the league table to 24 points, with eight matches and no defeat.
Ithad of Alexandria, which defeated Quanah 2-1, is second with 20 points. ENPPI, which fell unexpectedly to visiting Mahalla 1-0, dropped to third place. Sawahel is fourth with 16 points. Fifth place Ismaili and sixth place Mahalla sharing 14 points apiece are being trailed by Masri and Tersana. Ahli is ninth and four points ahead of tenth place Aswan, Mansoura and Quanah. The two bottom teams are Baladia with four points and Koroum with only two points.
