On target
A hefty 26 goals were scored in the second week of the Egyptian Premiere League.
Nashwa Abdel-Tawab describes how some of them went in
Ismaili downed Tersana 3-0 to take top spot in the Egyptian league after the second week. Defending champions Ahli are in third after struggling to claim a 3-2 home win over Ghazl Al-Mehalla. Zamalek managed a 2-1 victory over newly promoted Baladeyet Al-Mehalla for their first points of the season.
The 26 goals scored represented a high 3.2 average, better than last week's 2.6.
Ismaili bagged their second successive victory after crushing Tersana 3-0 at home on Saturday. Iraqi striker Mustafa Karim broke the deadlock four minutes after the break before Mohamed Fadl doubled the lead eight minutes later. Midfielder Hosni Abd-Rabou, who was cleared to play for Ismaili after a wrangle over his rights between the Dervishes and Strasbourg, completed the rout in the 59th minute.
Karim arrived at the close of the season from Iraq's Arbil and made an instant impact by scoring the winner against Zamalek in the league debut.
Ismaili, who stunned Zamalek 1-0 in the league opener, top the standings with six points while Tersana lie 10th on three points.
Ahli struggled to claim a home win over Ghazl Mehalla, continuing a succession of poor displays for the Cairo giants, which included a 3-0 thrashing by Sudanese club Hilal in the African Champions League.
"Our recent below-par form is due to the over- confident approach the players had after Ahli won the Egyptian Cup and the local Super Cup," the Portuguese manager Manuel Jose told the post-match press conference. "However, we are not enduring any crisis; the players just need a recharge of batteries."
The defending champions, who are looking for their fourth consecutive title, beat Mehalla thanks to a brace from substitute Osama Hosni. However, they were down 1-0 and 2-1, far from convincing and failed to make up for the poor form they produced against Misri in the 2-2 league opener.
"Ahmed El-Sayed was injured after the first five minutes of the game and Shadi Mohamed wasn't at his best," Jose said. "But despite all the unfortunate circumstances we managed to fight back and win."
The 61-year-old coach cited other factors for the disappointing display. "For instance, (Angolan striker) Flavio has just returned from international duty and several Ahli players were representing Egypt in a mid-week friendly, so they trained just once before the Mehalla match.
"We are also playing for the fourth successive year without being granted suitable time to rest between seasons," Jose added.
Jose called on Ahli fans to support the team in their upcoming crucial CAF Champions League clash against Ivorian outfit Asec Mimosas at Cairo International Stadium on Sunday. A draw or a win will lift Ahli through to the semis but a defeat will eliminate them from the tournament.
As for Zamalek, a late own goal by Ayman Khalil gave them a precious 2-1 away victory over Baladeyet Al-Mehalla to register their first win in the league.
Zamalek was one down in the first-half thanks to Ahmed Sonbol's strike before Amr Zaki leveled the score in the 72nd minute with a superb acrobatic effort.
Khalil headed into his own net two minutes from time to hand the visitors the three points.
In other results, Petrojet won 2-0 over newly- promoted side Telecom Egypt to reach ninth with three points. Osama Mohamed opened the scoring nine minutes from time before Alaa Ibrahim sealed the victory four minutes later
Elsewhere, the Arab Contractors edged Alexandria-based club Ittihad 2-1 away from home. Ehab El-Masri scored twice for the Contractors while Youssef Hamdi scored Ittihad's consolation.
Ittihad fans called for coach Mohamed Omar's resignation following their team's defeat, having collected a single point from their past two encounters. The Ittihad-mad supporters were hoping for a better start to the new season after the club signed a host of players. Ittihad were held to a goalless draw by the Border Guards last week.
Omar stepped down from his position but will keep his job until the appointment of a new coach.
The club's vice-president, Mohamed Mosselhi, said the board had accepted Omar's resignation and that they are in negotiations with former Zamalek coach Mahmoud Saad and Mohamed Salah.
Hassan Moussa's strike gave El-Geish, who finished fourth last season, a 1-0 victory over Masri. El-Geish are second with six points and Misri are 13th in the 16-team league.
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