Ahli close in on their third consecutive football league crown Ahli continued their march towards a third successive Egyptian league championship after snatching a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Tersana on Friday. Ahmed Morsy reports. The win gave Ahli 59 points, 14 ahead of second-placed Ismaili which has one game in hand. Eight games remain in the schedule. Flavio opened the scoring in the 16th minute, firing a powerful right-footed drive from long-range into the top corner of the net. Substitute Bou-Farma from Algeria leveled in the 51st minute after receiving Islam Taher's cross at the far post. Flavio restored the lead for Ahli six minutes past the hour mark when he towered above the defence to head home Tarek El-Said's pinpoint free-kick from the right flank. Tersana was awarded a controversial penalty in the 75th minute when veteran striker Hossam Hassan was apparently brought down by Ahmed Adel inside the area. Television replays showed there was no contact. Hassan leveled the score at 2-2 but Emad El-Nahhas came to the rescue in the 84th minute, he too scoring from a penalty after Taher brought down El-Said. In his debut for his old team after arriving from Turkish side Konyaspor, striker Ahmed Belal was fielded in Ahli's front line to accompany Flavio due to Emad Meteb's suspension. But he squandered golden scoring opportunities. Star Ahli striker Mohamed Abou-Treika did not play because of injury and is sure to miss Ahli's African Champions League opener against Zimbabwean side Highlanders when the Red Devils start defending their continental title. Despite Abou-Treika's injury, Ahli boss Manuel Jose will be heartened by the news that dynamic midfielder Mohamed Barakat is set to return to full training on 10 March after a long- layoff, again due to injury. In other scores, Misri beat Ittihad 3-1 in Port Said. Mohamed Omar, the coach of Ittihad, and who was Misri's former skipper, was received by hostile crowds. The win put Misri in 10th place, tied with Ittihad with 25 points each. Misri are ahead by a one-goal difference. In Mehalla, Spinning Mehalla climbed to fourth place after beating Haras Al-Hedoud 1- 0. Mohamed Attiya scored the lone goal in the last minute of the first half. Mehalla now have 34 points, while Haras are in fifth with 31 points. Enppi defeated Suez Cement 1-0 to take over ninth spot. Suez are in 12th. Enppi have 27 points; Suez 23 points. In Alexandria, Olympic and Tanta appear destined to fall to the second division next year after their goalless draw. They have a meagre 15 and 14 points respectively and are at the bottom of the table. Zamalek's match with Ismaili was postponed due to liaisons with the Arab Champions League and African Champions League. Ismaili are in second with 45 points. With 43 points, Zamalek are in third. Each have a game in hand. On Sunday, the Egyptian Olympic football team slumped to a 2-0 away defeat to Ethiopia in the first-leg of qualifiers for the All-Africa Games in Algeria in the summer. Salaheddin Tato put Ethiopia ahead after breaking through Egypt's porous defence before poking the ball into the back of the net in the 12th minute. In the 85th minute, Lama Ntana added an insurance goal after firing a long- range shot past goalkeeper Amir Tewfik. The second leg is on 11 March in Cairo Stadium. Early this month, Egypt's Olympic team was held to a 1-1 home draw by Ivory Coast in the first leg qualifications for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The second leg will be on either 24 or 25 March.
