el-shams 4 - 0 zamalek (393210571)

The crowd of 51953 turning up at el -nar today were greeted with some nasty showers of rain. Jorge Alberto Piccione was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Fredrik Oskarsson and Fábio Alfarela. Fans of both teams had been eagerly awaiting this Cairo derby and were doing their best to outshout their opponents. el-shams had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. They fielded: Smolyar - Farne, Abrial, Dorrepaal - Cabrera, Olenskär, Gkaravelas, Frijlink, Mansoor - Pánek, Busto.

zamalek tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players took the field: Duglio - Klarić, Mendivelso, Campodónico - Rohde-Larsen, Kondel, van Laer, Chedas, Helbo - Kerbler-Wimmer, Hermsen.

The wings were the focus of most of zamalek's attacks today. 8 minutes had elapsed when a great chance for el-shams to take the lead after a good cross from the right found L. Abrial alone with the keeper, but he chipped it to the wrong side of the post. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave A. Mansoor from el-shams a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 10 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! After some beautiful movement down the left wing, S. Gkaravelas scored for el-shams putting them ahead 1 - 0, after 19 minutes. H. van Laer had a hard time on the waterlogged pitch - his trademark technique was nowhere in sight today. A speedy charge from the left side of the field increased the lead of el-shams to 2 - 0 as L. Busto finished it off competently, firing in from an acute angle. 34 minutes into the game, zamalek's attack got through on the right, but J. Helbo couldn't handle the ball and his feeble kick wound up in the keeper's arms. 2 - 0 was the score after the first half. Possession in this half belonged to el-shams, who controlled the ball 62 percent of the time.

el-shams's L. Busto increased the lead to 3 - 0, after he saw his shot go between the legs of the advancing goalkeeper following some good play down the right wing after 55 minutes. Although the whole team were struggling to impress, zamalek's X. Chedas was singled out as being the problem as he was called off the pitch after 65 minutes. S. Erath was given a chance to change things around. J. Helbo did not have a good day today, often losing his footing on the muddy pitch. The bench was restless, and with 70 minutes passed zamalek's coach gave F. Estébanez Cabos the opportunity the player had been hoping for. J. Helbo reluctantly left the field. zamalek needed a fresh pair of legs on the field, and after 74 minutes S. Kerbler-Wimmer made way for N. Moiceanu. The el-shams players could smell victory in the air. P. Olenskär wasn't in a hurry to leave the field as he was substituted for S. Aslan after 75 minutes. Content with how the game was proceeding, the el-shams coach let R. Subauste replace H. Dorrepaal after 80 minutes. P. Rohde-Larsen of zamalek was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. O. Smolyar made a brilliant save 84 minutes into the match, blocking a rocket of a shot from F. Mendivelso on the right hand side. Things were deteriorating for the away team as el-shams scored another to make it 4 - 0 after a left side attack resulted in a goal for A. Mansoor after 88 minutes. 88 minutes in, N. Moiceanu made an incredible run up the middle and nearly reduced the home side's lead, but O. Smolyar refused to let the ball slip by him. el-shams had most of the ball, with 59 percent of possession.

C. Farne performed admirably for el-shams. On the other hand, O. Smolyar's play was disheartening. zamalek's best player was F. Hermsen. M. Duglio on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 4 - 0.