CAIRO: The Egyptian Premier League resumes after a two-week break, with Zamalek hosting lowly Ittihad at the Military Academy on Thursday night.
The two sides have enough motives to bag the three points after starting poorly, but one thing that highlights the game will be the presence of new tacticians at both ends.
Zamalek have replaced Michel Decastel by Henri Michel, while Brazilian Carlos Cabral will be sharing management with assistant Mohamed Nour for Ittihad.
A lot is expected from Michel in his second stint with the Cairo giants, who dropped five points in the last two games.
The Frenchman won t need time to adapt after his short spell last year and is even surrounded by better circumstances this time around.
On the other hand, Ittihad are led by a former Zamalek coach; Cabral, the man who guided the White Knights to Champions League glory in 2002.
Cabral, who takes Taha Basri s place on the Ittihad bench after the Zamalek legend was sacked last month, will help assistant Nour in his first game with Alexandrians.
Ittihad are at least looking for a point in Cairo as they are joint-bottom with a draw and two defeats. Zamalek will be without injured duo Mahmoud “Shikabala Abdel-Razeq (groin) and Mahmoud Fathallah (shoulder). Amr Al-Safti might deputize for the latter.
Egypt striker Amr Zaki has recovered from a hamstring injury though and is declared fit for the game, along with ex-Wigan mate Ahmed “Mido Hossam.
Mido, who was overlooked by Egypt once again in the Rwanda game, has completed a special training program to lose weight during the break.
As for Ittihad, skipper Shadi Mohamed will miss out again through injury and the same goes for Mohamed Ibrahim and Mahmoud Sobhi.
Apart from the absences, the Alexandria outfit are brimming with former Zamalek players, apart from manager Cabral.
The likes of Osama Hassan, Ahmed Hossam, Mohamed Abdullah and most notably the on-loan Mohamed Al-Morsi will be desperate to deliver against their old club.
I need to prove myself especially for Henri Michel. It is ideal for me to impress him in this game, said Al-Morsi, who signed a three-year deal with Zamalek before joining Ittihad on loan.
