Zamalek could only draw 1-1 against Ethiopia's St George in the Orange CAF Champions League round 16 first leg played at the Cairo Air Defence Stadium, reports Abeer Anwar. The draw, especially with St George's away goal, promises a tough proposition for Zamalek in the second leg match to take place in Addis Ababa in two weeks time. Zamalek will play 3,000 feet higher than sea level so how are the players expected to do well when they had oxygen in Cairo (albeit polluted)? The visitors, Ethiopian St George were the better team all through the match. The visitors scored first through Oumed Oukore while Zamalek made a number of changes to alter the team's tempo and attack for an equaliser which came in the 82th minute through substitute Mohamed Ibrahim. Zamalek's Brazilian manager Jorvan Vieira was upset with his team's performance, but promised to fight for a win in the return leg scheduled for Addis Ababa in a fortnight. “We had a bad game that was unexpected,” Vieira commented after the match. “Everyone is responsible for this result, including me. We didn't concentrate and made a lot of mistakes.” Vieira refused to attribute the team's poor performance to the absence of fans; Zamalek have won all their league matches behind closed doors, which is being done as a security measure. Regarding the return leg in Addis Ababa, Vieira said, “It is going to be a very tough fixture, but we have nothing to lose. We'll play to win and qualify from Ethiopia. We'll start preparing immediately. In modern football there's nothing called home and away; you have to play to win all your matches.” St George's German coach Michael Kroger told cafonline, “The return leg will be very difficult despite the away draw we achieved today. Zamalek have much more continental experience than we do, and this experience will help them in Addis Ababa. We'll see what happens and we'll do our best to reach the group stage. I'm satisfied with my team's performance today. We had a good game against a big team, and we could have won. I'm happy with this result.” “We had an awful game,” said Zamalek captain Abdel-Wahed Al-Sayed. “We almost lost. The away leg is going to be very tough but we're capable of winning and qualifying. In last year's final Ahli scored a 1-1 draw with Esperance in Cairo and then won the title in Tunis. We can win in Addis Ababa and reach the mini league stage.” Ahli did better than Zamalek last week, holding Bizertin of Tunisia 0-0 away in the same first leg qualifying round of the same Champions League. Bizertin played Ahli after deciding not to carry out their threat to withdraw from the competition. Ahli had to fly to Bizertin after the CAF Federation refused Ahli's request to play in Tunis instead of Bizertin after a riot broke out in a local league match in Tunisia. Bizertin were furious at being denied a place in the final phase of the national championship because of alleged match-fixing and a club official had said they were withdrawing from all football activities. Tunisian police heightened security measures and did not allow except 1,500 fans to attend the match which went smoothly. Ahli coach Hossam Al-Badri expressed satisfaction with the result. “I am happy with the draw as the players were playing under tension due to the chaos in Tunisia. In spite of this, they did their job well and we have a great chance to qualify in Cairo.” In the CAF Confederation Cup, Egyptian clubs Ismaili and Enppi ended up with goalless draws in their away matches. Ismaili drew with Sudan's Ahli Shendi 0-0 in Sudan. Despite the draw, Sabri Al-Menyawi, Ismaili coach, was satisfied with the result. “The team faced a lot of problems and lacked a number of stars and Shendi is strong and the best team in Sudan so I am very satisfied with my team's performance and I am sure they will do their best to qualify.” Ennpi also drew with South Africa's Super Star 0-0. Enppi's coach Tarek Al-Ashri said that the team was not in its best shape and the players lost harmony among themselves, perhaps because we did not know the opposition well. “But now I think we were able to study Super Star and we will do our best in the second leg in South Africa. I think we have a 50 per cent chance of qualifying.”
