Enppi avenged their 2008 defeat by upsetting Zamalek in the final of the Egypt football cup, Ahmed Morsy reports Unfancied Enppi came from behind to beat Zamalek 2-1 to claim their second Egypt Cup title. In a full house of 80,000 in Cairo Stadium, Cairo giants Zamalek, who were expected to win, failed to end their three-year, trophy-less run. They last tasted triumph in 2008 when they lifted the same trophy at Enppi's expense. In the first half on Wednesday, Zamalek, 20- time Egyptian Cup winners, seemed closer to breaking the deadlock thanks to the lively forward trio of Amr Zaki, Ahmed Gaafar and Shikabala with Egypt skipper Ahmed Hassan right behind them. Enppi goalie Mohamed Abu Gabal had to deal with several scoring opportunities. Moreover, Zamalek had a disallowed goal by Hassan inside the first quarter following an offside trap. In the 26th minute, Enppi coach Mokhtar Mokhtar was forced to take off solid defender Amr Fahim because of injury, fielding former Ahli midfielder Hussein Ali instead. After the break, in the early minutes, Zamalek maintained their superiority after introducing young midfielder Omar Gaber. In the 49th minute, the in-form striker Zaki, who sent Zamalek to the final after scoring the opener against Haras Al-Hedoud in the semi-final, upended his former club once again by breaking the deadlock and giving Zamalek the lead. Zaki headed home after converting right-wing Hazem Emam's cross which flew past Abu Gabal to send the mostly Cairo Stadium Zamalek fans into raptures. But the celebrations did not last long. It took Enppi only six minutes to grab the equaliser. The petroleum side, 2005 cup champions, were awarded a penalty after Zamalek's experienced defender Mahmoud Fathallah handled the ball following an unsuccessful tackle to stop striker Ahmed Abdel-Zaher from scoring. It was Ahli's former midfielder Adel Mustafa who stepped up, only to see his penalty shot hit the post. But the ball touched goalie Abdel-Wahed El-Sayed's arm and returned to the midfielder again who easily slotted home owing to his swift follow-up effort. After levelling the score, Enppi became noticeably cautious for fear of another Zamalek goal and suffered another injury in their defence following Abdel-Zaher El-Sakka's harsh challenge on Zaki. Zamalek coach Hassan Shehata introduced Alaa Ali and striker Hussein Hamdi to maintain control, however, Enppi who lacked control, was the side which grabbed the winner. Nine minutes from time -- ironically the same minute that saw Zaki score the winner to claim the cup title three years ago at the expense of Enppi -- Abdel-Zaher dispatched the ball inside the area between the legs of El-Sayed after his fellow striker Ahmed Raouf saw his shot luckily go into Abdel-Zaher's path. Enppi had eliminated another Cairo giant, Ahli, in round 16 in the same championship. Shehata, Zamalek's maestro who took over after leaving the Egyptian national team, will be hoping to make amends when the Egyptian domestic league begins tomorrow, 14 October.
