CAIRO: Ahly booked themselves a spot in the Egypt Cup quarterfinals after they beat arch rivals Zamalek 3-1 Wednesday night at Cairo Stadium.
With this victory, Ahly kept their record of not losing a derby in Egypt Cup over the past 50 years; on the other hand, Zamalek ended their season without winning any trophies and without a derby victory after three successive draws.
"I’m really satisfied with the result but I’m happier with the performance; the experience factor helped us overturn the goal deficit," said Ahly’s coach, Hossam Al Badri.
Goals came from Hussein Yasser Al-Mohammadi from Zamalek and Sherif Abdel-Fadil, Mohamed Fadl and Mohamed Abou-Trika from Ahly.
After beautiful displays from both sets of fans in the stands ahead of the match, it took less than one minute for the action on the field to begin when Zamalek’s Ahmed Gaafar got a ball at the right side and sent it into the area to find Al-Mohammadi who easily scored Zamalek’s only goal of the game.
After the goal, Zamalek had the upper hand until midfielder Ibrahim Salah was substituted for injury in the 14th minute. A minute later, Italian referee Nicola Rizzoli whistled for a free kick which Abdel-Fadil fired a long range shot that Zamalek keeper Abdel-Wahed El-Sayed failed to stop.
Ahly then restored their grip over the game by controlling the midfield and taking advantage of Zamalek’s poor defending, especially in the wings, and lack of organization in the center.
However, it took some extraordinary saves from El-Sayed to prevent Ahly from scoring more goals through Ahmed Hassan’s shot in the 19th minute and Mohamed Barakat’s attempt on goal in the 33rd minute.
However, Fadl used a deflected ball from Abou-Trika to score Ahly’s second two minutes later.
Zamalek’s only chances in the first half came through a free kick taken by Mahmoud “Shikabala” Abdel-Razeq that went just wide, and Al-Mohammadi’s shot from outside the area that Ahly’s keeper Sherif Ekramy easily handled.
Meanwhile, Zamalek’s sole striker, Gaafar, failed to leave any impact as he continuously stayed in the offside; while right winger Ahmed Ghanim continued to commit errors that could have cost his team more goals.
In the second half, Abou-Trika restored his scoring senses since his last goal more than two months ago by redirecting Abdel Fadil’s shot with his head to make it 3-1 for Ahly.
Zamalek players raised the white flag after the goal despite desperate attempts from Al-Mohammadi and Amr Al Safty’s header, who was later substituted for Alaa Ali due to injury.
Hossam Hassan’s substitutions, taking out Ivoirian Marcel Edeko for Hani Said, and continuous instructions to his players failed to leave any impact on the score as Ahly players passed the ball around while their fans celebrated in the stands.
"Thanks God that the match ended 3-1," Tarek Soliman, Zamalek’s assistant coach, said in the press conference following the game.
"This was our worst performance this season, the majority of the players could not live up to expectations. We were unlucky to face Ahly in that early round.
"But we can still consider this season a successful one, we achieved our aim of booking a place in the African Champions League," he added.
Zamalek ended the second round of the league in second place after finishing the first round in 13th place.
The players are set to have one month off before they begin their preparations for the new season in Germany and Switzerland.
Ahly will play against Petrojet this Sunday.
In other quarter-final games, Ismaili will host Al Ittihad of Alexandria in Ismailia, Military Production will face ENPPI while Haras Al Hodood faces Arab Contractors. All three games will be played this Saturday.
