Mohamed Salah was back to his best as he helped Basel beat Lausanne 2-0 at home to go top of the Swiss league. Salah bagged a delightful assist when he exchanged passes with Streller inside the box before deceiving a defender with an amazing piece of skill to lay back the ball to Streller who left the keeper with no chance to make the score 2-0 for the home side. Salah himself nearly found the back of the net in the 75th minute when he hit the crossbar from a free kick at the edge of the box after a slight deflection from the wall. Apart from the amazing assist, Salah appeared extremely lively throughout the game as he created so many chances for his teammates as well as testing the keeper a couple of times until he was replaced in the 86th minute to a standing ovation from the home fans. On the other hand, Al-Nenni recovered in time to start the game after he suffered a head injury last week and had a very impressive game in the middle of the park. Al-Nenni played the full game and once again showed why he's so highly valued at his club with some resolute defending and eye catching passing. Basel go top of the league after that win on goal difference with last season's runners up Grasshopper staying in second. Hossam Ghali started his Belgian journey with a disappointing defeat at the hands of Zulte Waregem at home. Ghali played the full game for Lierse and looked very comfortable and confident on the ball unlike most of his teammates who simply did not offer enough in the game. Zulte took the lead in the 33rd minute before Lierse managed to equalise 10 minutes later through Menga. However, two minutes into the second half and Lierse were behind yet again as some sloppy defending allowed the visitors to score their second goal. Surprisingly, Lierse players did not seem too interested in finding an equaliser and it was Zulte who missed some clear cut chances in the second half. Another Egyptian star in the form of Ahmed Samir Farag played the full game for Lierse and had an average game that saw him do nothing spectacular but he did not commit any mistakes either. Ahmed Hegazi and Fiorentina continued their preparations for the new campaign with yet another huge win. The Viola defeated Cyprus side Limassol 7-0 in a one-sided game that saw the Viola attacking for 90 minutes and Limassol trying but failing to defend for the entire game. Once again Hegazi started the game and was replaced at half time along all his fellow starters after having an easy day at the office. Up till now, Fiorentina played four friendly games against some very poor sides winning all of them by huge margins. After three games against local teams, Cyprus' Limassol was the first non-Italian opponents Fiorentina faced this season as Montella indicated after the win that the coming period will see his team tested against some stronger sides to know where they stand now in terms of fitness. Moving to England, there was some sad news for some of our Egyptian stars. This week, a spokesman for Nottingham Forest claimed that the club was no more interested in signing Egyptian youngster Trezeguet after indicating otherwise last week. The club did not give specific reasons for changing their mind but said they might come back for the young star in January as they have preferable options at the moment. Hull City's manager Steve Bruce was asked in a press conference this week about the possibility of signing Mohamed Nagi Gedo on a permanent basis after the Egyptian star impressed last season and his answer was quiet clear: “I don't think so”. Gedo surely hoped he had done enough to persuade Bruce into signing him permanently but reports from England indicate that Bruce was disappointed by the fact that Gedo joined his club suffering from an old foot injury and played on it without saying anything about it until he suffered from the same exact injury at the end of the season and had to go under the knife to fix it. Furthermore, Bruce is also afraid Gedo would be another Amr Zaki who started so well and scored for fun until all of a sudden he forgot how to score goals and disappeared towards the end of his loan spell with Wigan, exactly like Gedo (Bruce was in charge of Wigan when Zaki starred there in 2008). However, unconfirmed reports indicate that Hull City is interested in taking Mahmoud Kahraba on a two-week trial with the option of signing him permanently. Kahraba was one of the better performers of the Egyptian national team in the U20 World Cup and stated after the tournament that his dream was to play in England. And Mohamed Ibrahim who took the Egyptian league by storm last season and who tormented Ahli in their recent game in the African Champions League could be heading to Spanish giants Malaga if reports emerging from Spain are true. These reports indicate that Ibrahim will sign for Malaga on loan for this coming season with an option of a permanent deal if the player impressed this year. Egyptian pundits consider Ibrahim a certain future superstar after some unbelievable performances with Zamalek and the senior national team last season. Ibrahim, who is a mix between Egyptian star Shikabala and legend Mohamed AbuTreika, showed he's ready to play at the highest level after becoming a regular for the senior national team as well as scoring for fun for Zamalek. The coming days will tell if these reports are true or just rumours.
