It's already celebration time for some Zamalek fans as their team took another huge step forward in the race for the Egyptian league title. They managed to win another game and record yet another clean sheet to make it seven blanks accompanied by the same number of wins in a row. The 2-0 win against Assuiti Sport was even bigger as both the second and third placed teams, Enppi and Ahly respectively, lost their games in this 31st week. Starting with Enppi, their woeful run continued as they lost to relegation-headed Semouha 1-0 in the dying seconds to extend their winless run to four games. Three draws and one loss virtually killed off any hopes for the petroleum side of winning the league this season as the gap between them and league leaders Zamalek is now six points with still four more games to play for Zamalek which means the gap could even go up to 18 points if the leaders win all four games. The result was excellent news for both Ahly and Zamalek who played a day later but the outcome of their games was the exact opposite. After a brilliant start to his reign, Fathi Mabrouk lost his first game after four matches as Ahly's temporary manager. The league holders lost by a single goal to Haras Al-Hodoud thanks to the evergreen Ahmed Hassan Mekki. Mekki scored in the first half, and despite having more than 15 attempts on goal throughout the game, Ahly failed to find the back of the net and suffered defeat at the hands of the 16th placed side that has now moved outside the drop zone in 14th place. The result was shocking by all means given the superb form of the team since Mabrouk took over last month in addition to the mediocrity of the opponents who are having a season to forget so far. The defeat wasn't the only bad news for Ahly on the night as club captain Hossam Ghali was sent off in the second half and in a moment of madness kicked the captain's armband. The incident didn't go down well with the club's president Mahmoud Taher who announced after the game that Ghali would no longer be the captain after the incident. Zamalek played the same day after Ahly and there was no greater motivation for the players to win than seeing their fierce rivals losing their game. There was absolutely no place for complacency for the White Knights as a goal in the second minute by Bassem Morsi showed they meant business against Assuiti. Another goal by Ahmed Ali after half an hour ended any hopes of a comeback for Assuiti against the league leaders who simply do not concede goals at the moment. The win took Zamalek's points tally to 66 points from 27 games with 11 games left while Enppi stayed second with 60 points from 31 games. Ahly failed to close the gap on Enppi and stayed third with 55 points from 28 games which means that winning their three postponed games will see them leapfrog Enppi to second place with 63 points. But that is scant consolation for the defending champions. Massive wins for relegation contenders Semouha and Harras Al-Hodoud saw the latter leave the relegation zone while Semouha will depart from the bottom five as well if they win their postponed game. Damanhour, Assuiti Sport and Al-Nasr seem on their way back to the second division as the gap between them and the safe zone is getting bigger and bigger while time is not on their side. As for the other two teams that will go down along with them, it's still unclear at the moment with no less than eight or nine teams are in the mix until the very end. As for the top, Zamalek seem destined to clinch their first title since 2004 as a potential 14-point gap between them and Ahly -- if both win all their postponed games -- seems too big to make up given the superiority of the leaders now. Can Ahly do the unthinkable and make a remarkable comeback? Will the White Knights let the title slip after all this? The answer to both questions is probably a big ‘no' but only the coming weeks and games can confirm that it's Zamalek's year. Despite Zamalek's superior position, its president Mortada Mansour announced that Portuguese coach Jesualdo Ferreira is planning to retire from football after this season and that former coach and player in many European clubs Mido will take over with immediate effect, for the second time in three years.
