Zamalek kicks off the Confederation Cup with El-Saeed’s goal

Nairobi (dpa)

Zamalek began their campaign to defend their African Confederation Cup title with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over their host, Kenyan Police, in the first leg of the second round of the continental tournament.
Zamalek owes this victory to its veteran player, Abdullah Al-Saeed, who scored the first goal at the African level with the “White” team in the last seconds of the first half.
The two teams will meet in the second leg next Friday in Egypt, where Zamalek will need a draw or a win by any score to advance to the next round, while the police have no choice but to win by more than one goal to continue in the continental tournament.
Portuguese Jose Gomez, Zamalek’s technical director, did not include any player from the new deals, except for Hossam Ashraf, the young striker who returned from the loan experience at Baladyet El Mahalla, and Ahmed Mahmoud who returned from the loan at El Gouna, as he excluded the Palestinian Omar Farag, Mohamed Hamdy, the Moroccan Mahmoud Ben Tayek, and the young Senegalese Sidi Ndiaye.
Zamalek dominated the game in the first quarter of an hour, but failed to pose any threat to the Kenyan goal.
Kenyan police launched the first attack on Zamalek’s goal in the 25th minute, through a powerful shot by Javari Owiti from inside the penalty area, but the ball passed close to the left post of the goal.
Two minutes before the end of the first half, Al-Shorta almost scored the first goal, through Aboud Omar, who shot a powerful ball from inside the penalty area, but it passed close to the right post of Zamalek’s goal.
Zamalek managed to end the first half with a goal scored by Abdullah El-Saeed in the first minute of stoppage time, after a free kick sent by Ahmed Sayed Zizo on the edge of the penalty area to El-Saeed, who shot the ball directly into the right corner of the Kenyan goal.
At the beginning of the second half, Zamalek coach Jose Gomez made two changes, with Mahmoud Shikabala and Nasser Mansi coming on for Nasser Maher and Seif El-Din El-Jaziri.
As time passed, the Kenyan police tried to threaten Zamalek’s goal through quick counterattacks, but they did not result in any danger.
Substitute Shikabala tried his luck with a shot from outside the penalty area, but it went wide of the Kenyan goal.
Police controlled the game after half of the second half, but failed to score the equalizer, either because of the rush to end the attacks, or because of the brilliance of Zamalek’s defense and behind it goalkeeper Mohamed Sobhi.
Gomez made Zamalek’s third substitution, bringing on Ahmed Abdel Rahim Eshou for Zizo, then bringing on Ziad Kamal for Abdullah El-Saeed, then taking off Mohamed Shehata and bringing on Ahmed Mahmoud.