(Ahly-Zamalek) derby’s preview

it is derby time. cairo will be on its feet watching its two giants clash with each other in its traditional and classic derby between ahly and zamalek. the fans of both teams will be biting their nails as no team is widely better than the other, so who is playing and what will happen.

background
for those who don’t know ahly and zamalek. it is the most famous and arguably the most powerful derby in africa, middle east and maybe asia. the two teams enjoy the biggest popularity in egypt and arab countries, sometimes you can see arab countries flags in the stands. their clash is always an anticipated match whatever is the spot of the teams on the league ranking.these matches produced the most talented players who made Egyptian football history. it is just enought to know that there first match in the egyptian league was in 1948 and ended 2-2, before that they played in some other tournaments since 1922.

ahly, maybe is more known to foreign fans because of his african triumphs and participation in world cup for clubs, is refered to as the red devils due to their red jersey’s. zamalek who shares the record for winning african champions league 5 times with ahly is referred to as the white castle. the club is famous for its white jersey and its two red stripes (only sao paolo wear sth like it).

10 years ago, the match between the two teams used to be decisive for who will win the league but after ahly’s and zamalek’s setbacks, new teams started to cause troubles and the match lost some of its importance. anyway, it remains a derby and a derby is always a derby.

here what some of what the fans came up with.

now, on to each team’s news and preparations:

Ahly
i started with ahly because they are the home team. in their last match ahly crushed arab contractors 4-1 which gave them a huge boost before the derby; however, ahly this year isn’t the same team that was 2 years ago. some of the stars of the team left like wael goma and hassan mostafa and mohamed shawky. the team doesn’t present the football which his fans are used to.

ahly enters the match while being in the top of the league’s table with 17 points ahead of the second place, however, his coach said ” we won’t give our opponent the chance to celebrate”, ” we would do same if we were in their shoes, the season ended for them and they must win the derby at least to give their fans sth to cheer about”. we must also mention that ahly was busy in the past couple of weeks with el hadary’s problem so let’s see if this would have any effect??

usually, ahly style of play depend on controlling the midfield and slowing the rhythm of the game and then snatch a goal or two making use of abo treka’s talent. they also use their wings almost perfectly as well as free kicks.

this will be the first derby for newcomer ahmed fathi who said ” i have played against the two teams before while i was in ismaily but this is my first derby”, ” i seek to leave my mark on this game”
absentees: el hadary, abo treika (maybe start in second half), islam el shater, osama hosny, and ahmed sedeek
probable line-up:
amir abd el hamid
shady mohamed……..emad el nhas……ramy adel
barakat…….ahmed fathi…..hossam ashour….gilberto
mahmoud samir
emad meteb……….flavio

Zamalek
with the fourth place in the league we can say that zamalek isn’t at his best right now. the team nearly lost hope in the league and is now 100% focused on the cup. in their last match zamalek won against enppi 1-0 but they didn’t give any indications that they can win the derby. their performance was poor and the players were selfish, the only positive thing was the spirit of the players and their eagerness to win but their tactics were bad. maybe we should blame ruud crul their dutch coach.

anyway, i heard that zamalek fans are planning to attend the game with large numbers maybe this could be an incentive for the players to play better. mohamed helmy (general coach) said: ” there is a strong will among the players to win and make their fans happy again”, “we seek to make use of the spirit that came after the 2 consecutive wins against suez cement and enppi”, ” the match is a special championship for us and we must win and bring joy and happiness to our fans”

zamalek’s style of play depend on long balls and the physical power of his players like amr zaki and allaa abd el ghani, however there are some great talents in the team like shikabals , gamal hamza and hazem emam (the captain) which make it an interesting mixture between power and talent. zamalek weakness is in its defense and midfield, the players aren’t in harmony enough and sometimes they make silly mistakes. its power is in attack and goal keeping (most of the time!!).

zamalek will have Mohamed abdallah playing his first derby in a white shirt , the ex-ahly player returned to zamalek from turkey and is looking forward to his first derby. also we may see the young mohamed ibrahim (joker card) in the match.
absentees: abdelhalim ali, wesam el abdy, ahmed ghanem soltan and amr el safty
probable squad:
abd el monsef
beshir el tabee……mahmoud fathallah…..karim zekry
mohamed abdallah……alaa abd el ghani….ahmed raouf…..tarek el sayed
shikabala
amr zaki…………………………gamal hamza (mostafa gaafar)

The match:
with this big difference in points, the match will e a pure derby free from any calculations so we expect to see great football.unfortunately, the match will be played at the military academy stadium not cairo stadium so it won’t be loud as usual but it will still be crazy and electric.

if zamalek players succeeded in closing their flanks and build up attacks in an organized way and of course prevent any silly mistakes to take place, they have a great chance to win. also zamalek will be seeking to make use of amir abd el hamid’s inexperience in the absence of el hadary!!

on the other hand, if ahly took advantage of zamalek’s weak defense they can score easily.

one last point, you can see the difference in the tone between ahly’s newspaper and zamalek’s. ahly newspaper said “we will destroy them” while zamalek said “with the spirit we can win”!!!!.no comment.

watch some of zamalek’s goals in ahly

i am very sorry but i couldn’t find a similar one for ahly

anyway, here is what happened when they last met:

match card
what:ahly-zamlek, egyptian league week 20
where:military academy stadium,cairo
when:friday at 8 pm (clt)

prediction: 1-1 amr zaki and emad meteb

key matchups

zamalek’s defense vs ahly attack: interesting!!!
shikabala vs ahly fans: oh, they are going to give him hard time
amr zaki vs shady mohamed: both has the power and talent so who will win
midfield battle: i think, the team which will control this area will win
emad meteb vs scoring: he always scores at zamalek

wait for the game review at some point on saturday!!