Zamalek vs. Ahly: Cairo derby, round 1

By: Tamim | July 19th, 2008

so the day has come, our most important match of the season and our champion league group opener is our first match. even more it will be an action packed Cairo derby. we can consider it our D-day. we will be put to the test against our rivals and all Africa will be watching.

this match is very vital for us; in fact, it is a must win match.

why the match is important?

- according to its result a lot of things will be decided. if we win, it will be a great boost for both the players and the fans to start the season with. if we lose….well?????

-our new signings will be put in front of their first and biggest challenge, shall they win they will be the fans’ favorites

-the three points are very important to us to secure a place in the semi-finals and restore our cup once again.

-all Africa will be watching, if not the world, and there is a a stereotype of ahly being he only champions in egypt. a wrong fact that we must change.

-the club’s elections for a new board is just a couple of days away from the match. so the result isn’t only about football, it is about the whole club.

Preparations:

preparing for the season, we had a training camp in Alexandria for one week then we moved to 6th of October city and remained there for the rest of pre-season preparations. during the camp, we played four matches won 2 against haras el hdood3-0 and el geish 2-1 and tied in 2 against tersana 1-1 and against ahli bank 1-1.

players who made a remarkable impact were sherif ashraf, gamal hamza, agogo, ayman abd el aziz and wesam el abdy. also brazilian left winger richardinho was very impressive and is about to sign a 5-years contract.

Transfers:

we signed ayman abd el aziz from ginchlerlberlgi of turkey, junior agogo from notingham forest, hani saied (at last ) from ismaily, alaa kamal ad mahmod samir from Arab contractors and amr adel from el geish.

The match:

it is gonna be a very difficult match, putting in mind that it is the first match of the season and the players’ form won’t be at its best and the chemistry between them won’t be at its highest level.also new signings will need more time to adapt to the team and show what they can offer.

the first part of the match (15-25 minutes) will be more defensive as each team will be cautious of the other team especially that they didn’t see each their play with the new signings before. but after the first goal will be scored we will see another match and the goals will pour.

for us, winning the midfield battle is the most important thing and the key to victory. if our players controlled the ball well and kept possession and pressure the opponent with the ball we will prevent them from doing their well known tactics of controlling the midfield and scoring from counter attacks. also we must score first for psychological reasons as it will increase confidence among the players and the fans.

agogo will have to use his physical power if not to score then to keep ahly’s defenders away from other strikers and creating space for talented gamal hamza to dribble and score as well making good use of crosses taking advantage of being tall.

one last thing, the players must turn deaf in this match and neglect all the expected provocations from ahly fans and their racist chants against them. we lost twice because of this and we don’t want to lose because of this again.

prediction: 2-1, agogo and gamal hamza

FORZA ZAMALEK ALLEZ!!