The game witnessed a high spectator turn-out of 20,000 Zamalek fans, known as White Knights, who were allowed to enter the stadium this time to support their team in its quest to reclaim its African glory. The timing of the victory was ideal for the players, who needed to assure their fans that they were well prepared for their African matches to make up for previous losses, and also importantly, for Zamalek's new football technical manager, Ahmed Hossam, nicknamed Mido. Mido's recent appointment as technical manager for the White Castle was met with a huge number of comments and attacks, as many doubted the ability of the new manager to achieve any progress with the team. Ahmed Hossam is a TV presenter and former footballerwho played as a striker. Mido started his career with Zamalek in Egypt in 1999. He left the club for Gent of Belgium in 2000, where he won the Belgian Ebony Shoe. This led to a move to Dutch side Ajax in 2001, from where he joined Celta Vigo on loan in 2003. His next destination was Marseille in France,after which he left them for Italian Roma in 2004. He joined English side Tottenham Hotspur on an 18-month loan in 2005 and eventually joined the club permanently in 2006. He left the club in 2007 to join Middlesbrough, after which he joined Wigan Athletic, Zamalek, West Ham United and Ajax on loan. In 2011, he rejoined Zamalek, before joining Barnsley in 2012. He also played for Egypt 51 times scoring 20 goals. Mido retired from football on June 20, 2013. Zamalek started their African challenge with their full power, attacking from the first minute. They were able to assuage the visitors' attack,who resorted to defense from the beginning. As Mido commented, “We were due to score more goals, but the Niger defense blocked the way in front of all our trials.” Mohamed Ibrahim started the winning streak by scoring the first goal from a penalty kick on the 33rd minute of the first half, which continued at the same pace— continuous attack from the White Castle players and continuous defense from AS Dawns players to end the first half 1-0. The second half saw the same scenario until Moemen Zakaria was able to open a gap in their opponent's defense wall to score Zamalek's second goal on the 85th minute of the match and end it 2-0 in the White Castle's favour. After the match, Moemen Zakaria expressed satisfaction with his performance saying, “Mido was able to rediscover my talents by changing my position, which made me perform well. I am very happy with what I scored and I promise to exert more effort.” Meanwhile, Mido was pleased with the team's performance. “The players followed my instructions and we were able to score, but it was the strong defense wall of the opponent that hindered us. It seemed that AS Dawns knew our players and their technique well, but I promise to score more goals in the coming match to take place in Niger in two week,” he said. In other news, according to the African Football Confederation's(CAF) official website, South Africa's Kaizer Chiefs comfortably beat Black Africa of Namibia 3-0 in the first leg of the preliminary stage of the Orange CAF Champions League competition in Johannesburg. “I am happy with the result although I think we could have scored many, many more goals had we been more ruthless in front of goal,” said coach Stuart Baxter. His Namibian counterpart, Brian Isaacs, admitted that his team were resoundingly defeated but not embarrassed. “We knew we were up against a professional side, but I thought we gave a good account of ourselves. We, however, need to improve our finishing in the second leg if we are to give ourselves a chance,” said Isaacs. Tanzanian champions Young Africans deflated Komorozine Sports of Comoros 7-0 whilst Kampala City Council (KCC) of Uganda shocked Al-Merreikh of Sudan with a 2-0 win Omdurman. There was yet another shocking result in Brazzaville, with Flambeau de l'EST of Burundi beating Diables Noirs of Congo at the latter's backyard. Pascal Hakizimana scored the winner on 90 minutes. Senegalese champions,Diambars managed a lone goal win over ASFA Yennenga of Burkina Faso in their Orange CAF Champions League prelims first leg clash in Mbour. In other matches, Sporting de Praia Cruz stunned Malian champions, Stade Malien, beating them 3-2 in Sao Tome.
