Wednesday saw Egypt’s three major clubs open up their 2022-23 domestic season campaigns as the Egyptian Premier League continued on with its second day of fixtures. Zamalek, Al Ahly and Pyramids FC all faced opponents who put plenty of players behind the ball and did not make it easy but Ahly and Zamalek emerged with 1-0 victories thanks to second half goals. After going up in the first half, Pyramids FC surrendered their lead to ENPPI and had to settle for a 1-1 draw.
Zamalek took part in Wednesday’s late match, facing a very difficult Smouha team who will be disappointed they did not collect at least a point after outplaying the defending champions at times. Alya Sylla should have put Smouha up early in the second half but somehow sent his finish off the crossbar from two yards out, a mistake veteran playmaker and Zamalek substitute Shikabala would make Smouha pay for by causing an own goal in the 79th minute. Benin national team striker Samson Akinyoola scored on his debut late on to finish off the victory after also coming on as a substitute.
Many were curious to see if Al Ahly could get off to a positive start in league play under new manager Marcel Koller and the Red Devils dominated their encounter at El Ismaily. The hosts did well to hold out well into the second half but two of Ahly substitutes, Karim Fouad and new signing Shady Hussein, combined for the match winner. Fouad won the ball with a sliding challenge on the right side of the Ismaily penalty area before crossing low for Hussein to fire high past goalkeeper Mohamed Fawzi.
It looked like Pyramids would walk to an easy victory at ENPPI after an excellent passing combination resulted in Fakhreddine Ben Youssef sending a through pass to new signing Mostafa Fathi for a clever finish. However, Pyramids left back Mohamed Hamdi made a costly mistake when he attempted to head back to Ahmed El Shenawy, who was not able to reach the ball before Rafik Kabou who rounded the keeper and finished for a 58th minute equalizer.
Video of all the goals from Wednesday’s action are below.
El Ismaily 0-1 Al Ahly
ENPPI 1-1 Pyramids FC
Zamalek 2-0 Smouha
Scores
Highlights
Zamalek 2-0 Smouha
El Ismaily 0-1 Al Ahly
ENPPI 1-1 Pyramids FC
