Egypt: Zamalek Start Title Defence On High; Former MFM Star Grabs Winner On Debut
Written By Omolagba Oluwayemi
League defending champions, Zamalek on Tuesday began their title defence with a hard-fought 2-0 victory over ENPPI.
The Whites had a difficult challenge in their league opener as faced ENPPI at Petrosport, with both teams hoping for a positive start to the new season, but it was Patrice Carteron’s men who showed keen for the three points more, trying to break the deadlock early and they could have scored on more than occasion through Jaziri, Bencharki, and Zizo if it wasn’t for ENPPI keeper Mahmoud Gad.
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Zamalek could have paid for their wastefulness when John Ebuka found the ball underneath his feet inside the six yards box, but he couldn’t control it, allowing Abou-Gabal to easily catch it.
Just as both sides were getting ready to enter the tunnels, Zamalek were awarded a penalty in the fourth minute of the stoppage time after Obama was brought down inside the box. Zizo stepped up for the penalty and beat Mahmoud Gab to give Zamalek the lead.
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The second-half was a different story as ENPPI were the more dominant side, but failed to create any real chances as Zamalek relied on the counter-attacks and while ENPPI were looking for the equaliser, it was Zamalek who managed to score once against, this time through Omar El-Said, who headed in Ahmed Sayed Zizo’s corner in the 85th minute to seal the three points.
Meanwhile…
Former MFM striker John Okoli broke through for the first time with his new club, El Mokawloon, on Tuesday, netting the match winner in his side’s 1-0 win over El Sharkia Lel Dokhan in the Egyptian Premier League.
Okoli arrived El Mokawloon from Saif Sporting in the Bangladesh Premier League last month and immediately hits the ground running on his debut
The 24-year-old broke the deadlock in the 17th minute beating Sharkia Lel Dokhan’s goalkeeper, Mohamed El Saoud from close range after he latched on to a delightful chip from Abdallah Yaisien in the penalty box before knocking it home.
The former Yenicami and Gonyeli striker was replaced in the 60th minute for Omar Bassam.
El Mokawloon will face ENPPI on Saturday in their next league game.
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