CAIRO: Ahly boss Manuel Jose is likely to turn to Sherif Abdul-Fadil as a replacement for suspended sweeper Hossam Ghaly in the upcoming league match against MCDR.
Abdul-Fadil, a natural center-half or right-back, moved to the sweeper position in Ahly’s pre-match practice on Thursday morning.
After making his comeback last month, Jose implied that he would stick with the 3-5-2 formation, which was used by predecessor Abdul-Aziz Abdul-Shafi ‘Zizo’.
Zizo relied once on youngster Mohamed Samir as a sweeper but the latter was hardly impressive, before Egypt international Ghaly stepped in to excel in his old role.
Meanwhile, full-back Ahmed Fathi was rested from Thursday’s session due to fatigue, following his participation with Egypt in the recently-ended Nile Basin tournament.
Fathi could, however, be fit for the MCDR clash on Saturday.