Win Or Bust for Zamalek Against Pirates
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
SPORTS SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 2013 Win or bust for Zamalek against Pirates JOHANNESBURG: It is win or bust for “Only a victory will get us back on track for a who have dominated Egyptian football for that has won 16 CAF titles are favoured to Egyptian club Zamalek against high-riding semi-finals place. more than a century. triumph again. Back into the reckoning for South African visitors Orlando Pirates this “The return of defender Mahmoud The South Africans, who got the perfect selection come defender Ahmed Fathy, weekend in a CAF Champions League Fathallah and striker Ahmed Gaafar from lift with a 1-0 Cup win over biggest domes- midfielder Hossam Ashour and striker match day 4 showdown. suspension will provide a big boost as we tic rivals Kaizer Chiefs last weekend, Ahmed Abdul-Zaher after serving one- Although five titles makes the ‘White missed their experience in South Africa.” whipped Ahly 3-0 in El-Gouna two weeks match bans. Knights’ the second most successful club in Fathallah regularly makes the national before tormenting Zamalek. But ‘Red Devils’ coach Mohamed the competition behind Cairo neighbours team starting line-up while Gaafar has But the midfielder who broke the dead- Youssef is unhappy with the mid-afternoon Al-Ahly, they have not won a group game scored four Champions League goals this lock against Ahly, Thandani Ntshumayelo, kick-off in El-Gouna because the floodlights for five years. season and was sorely missed in Soweto. misses the match through injury, as does are inadequate. “I am unhappy with the Zamalek last celebrated a mini-league Coach Helmy Toulan can also call on veteran Zambia goal poacher Collins decision to play there because the pitch is victory against Dynamos from Zimbabwe, defender Salah Soliman and midfielder Mbesuma. Coach Roger de Sa is concerned so poor and the temperature is so high. I going 12 games without a win since while Nour El-Sayed, who missed the first outing about the heat in the watersports resort, would rather we play outside Egypt,” he bitter rivals Ahly conquered Africa twice to against Pirates because of injury. with temperatures around 35 degrees said. Another blow is the continuing reach seven titles. “We have to restore the dignity of Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) forecast. absence of injured veteran striker Emad The ‘Knights’ are bottom of Group A Zamalek-that is much more important than “Watching the Ahly match on video, I Moteab, whose four goals took the club with a solitary point from a match day 1 just winning this game against Pirates,” was impressed with how we maintained a through the two-round qualifying stage. draw with Ahly before losing narrowly at AC stressed El-Sayed. high tempo. The conditions were stifling,” Esperance of Tunisia, champions once and Leopards of Congo Brazzaville and heavily Pirates, the only South African club to be said the former South Africa goalkeeper. runners-up twice in the past three seasons, at Pirates. A 4-1 pasting in Soweto means crowned African champions, top the table El-Gouna also hosts an Ahly-Leopards lead Group B and should make it three wins Zamalek must collect maximum points with seven points and Ahly and 2012 CAF fixture the previous day that could deter- on the trot at home to Sewe San Pedro of behind closed doors in the Red Sea resort of Confederation Cup winners Leopards have mine which club makes the semi-finals in a Ivory Coast. El-Gouna on Sunday to have any hope of a four each. competition offering a $1.5 million (1.1 mil- Recreativo Libolo of Angola host Coton top-two finish and a semi-finals place. Victory for the ‘Buccaneers’ would virtu- lion euros) first prize. Walid Soliman scored Sport of Cameroon and the winners of this “There are no options for us-we have to ally seal a last-four place and complete an just before half-time to earn Ahly a 1-0 win match in Calulo will be favoured to accom- win,” admitted Zamalek defender Hani Said. unexpected hat-trick of wins over clubs in the Congolese city of Dolisie and the club pany Esperance to the semi-finals. —AFP Spenders Spurs drawn with sellers Anzhi in Europa League MONACO: Tottenham Hotspur, who have splurged over 65 million pounds ($100 mil- lion) on new talent, were yesterday drawn in the same Europa League group as Anzhi Makhachkala, the Russian club who have been selling off their players. Anzhi put their entire first team squad up for sale after their billionaire owner cut the club’s budget, triggering an exodus of FRANCE: Marseille’s French forward Andre-Pierre Gignac expensively acquired players. celebrates in this file photo. — AFP Group K opponents Spurs, who had been linked with Anzhi’s Brazilian playmak- Marseille face er Willian before he joined Chelsea instead along with the Russian club’s Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o, have brought in sever- Monaco test al new faces. Tottenham have already bro- ken their transfer record twice with the PARIS: Reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain will be strongly signings of Spain striker Roberto Soldado fancied to see off promoted Guingamp today but the game of and Brazil midfielder Paulinho amid media MONACO : Monaco’s Portuguese defender Ricardo Carvalho (right) and UEFA the weekend in Ligue 1 comes 24 hours later when leaders reports that their Wales forward Gareth general secretary Gianni Infantino take part in the draw for the Europa League Marseille take on second-placed Monaco. Bale will join Real Madrid in a world record group stages. — AFP Laurent Blanc’s PSG have flattered to deceive during the early deal. The draw for the group stage of stages of the new season but the coach received the backing of Europe’s second-tier club competition also his Qatari paymasters this week after the capital club followed up featured Cypriot side APOEL, who have Europa League group stage draw two draws by recording their first win of the campaign at Nantes replaced Fenerbahce, and Norway’s last Sunday. “In any case, it’s better than last season when we Tromso, reinstated in place of Besiktas after MONACO: The draw for the 2013-14 Europa League group stage made in only had three points after three matches,” said PSG president the Turkish clubs lost appeals against Monaco yesterday: Nasser Al-Khelaifi, before veiled criticism of Blanc’s predecessor match-fixing bans. Group A Group E Group I Carlo Ancelotti, who has since departed for Real Madrid. APOEL feature in Group F with France’s Valencia Fiorentina Olympique Lyon “Of course, Carlo did a great job here but today even if there Bordeaux, Germany’s Eintracht Frankfurt Swansea City Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Real Betis are many things to improve, we are playing better football than and Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv, while Tromso Kuban Krasnodar Pacos de Ferreira Guimaraes last season. And that is very important in my eyes,” he continued are in Tottenham’s group along with St Gallen Pandurii Tirgu Jiu Rijeka before confirming his confidence in 1998 World Cup winner Moldovan outfit Sheriff. Blanc. “To recruit him was an excellent decision. His work is even Former European champions PSV Group B Group F Group J better than what we expected of him.” Blanc has a near full- Eindhoven were drawn in Group B along- PSV Eindhoven Bordeaux Lazio strength squad at his disposal for the visit of the Bretons, with side Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb, Dinamo Zagreb APOEL Nicosia Trabzonspor Jeremy Menez the only absentee as he works his way back to fit- Ukraine’s Chornomorets Odessa and Chornomorets Odessa Eintracht Frankfurt Legia ness after a back operation. Bulgaria’s Ludogorets. Sevilla, who won Ludogorets Maccabi Tel Aviv Apollon Limassol While most pundits expected PSG’s principle challenge to back-to-back UEFA Cups - the predecessor Group C Group G Group K emerge from Claudio Ranieri’s expensively-assembled Monaco to the Europa League - in 2006 and 2007 will face Germany’s Freiburg, Portugal’s Standard Liege Dynamo Kiev Tottenham Hotspur side, it has been the mild-mannered Elie Baup who has fashioned Salzburg Genk Anzhi Makhachkala three straight wins to lead 2010 champions Marseille to the sum- Estoril and Czech side Liberec in Group H. Holders Chelsea and last season’s runners- Elfsborg Rapid Vienna Sheriff mit. The club are embroiled in an unsavoury dispute with Lille Esbjerg FC Thun Tromso over the potential transfer of talented 20-year-old winger Florian up Benfica are competing in the Champions League. There are 48 clubs Thauvin, who has caused uproar at the northern club after boy- across 12 groups. Group winners and run- Group D Group H Group L cotting training in midweek in an attempt to force a move to the ners-up advance to the knockout stage Rubin Karzan Sevilla AZ Alkmaar Stade Velodrome. where they will be joined by eight third- Wigan Athletic Freiburg PAOK Salonica Lille have rejected a 10 million-euro ($13.2m) offer for the placed teams from the Champions League Maribor Estoril Maccabi Haifa under-20 world champion - who only arrived from Bastia in the group stage. The final will staged in Turin, Zulte Waregem Slovan Liberec Shakhtar Karagandy close season - and threatened to relegate Thauvin to the reserves Italy, in May. — Reuters if he continues to hold out for a transfer. —AFP Group stage matches begin Sept. 19. The final will be in Turin on May 14, 2013. —Reuters.