Even though the Egyptian domestic football league season is young, arch-rivals and title contenders Ahli and Zamalek have already lost more points than they would like, Ahmed Morsy reports Defending champions Ahli dropped another precious two points for the second time in a row following a 1-1 draw with Al-Gouna at Cairo Stadium on Sunday in the third week of the league. Ahli had been held to a 2-2 draw by Petrojet last week. The loss of four points in only three games will undoubtedly increase pressure on the Portuguese coach Manuel Jose, who last month had already come in for fierce criticism after Ahli exited the Egypt Cup and African Champions League in less than a week. Jose turned into a shock absorber by blaming himself for the loss of points rather than put his players in the line of fire. "The team missed out on two points as the game didn't go the way we would have liked," Jose was reported as addressing his players in the locker room after Al-Gouna's draw. "We need to win the coming games to take us back to the top of the table where we belong," he added. "I ask you to concentrate on the remaining matches to put the team back on the right track." Ahli's slow start will sow doubts concerning their ability to maintain their local domination and win an eighth consecutive league title. Ahli, 36-time Egyptian league winners, will be hosted by Ittihad of Alexandria on Friday. "I am confident of your ability to win future games to offset the loss of points," Jose added. During the game, Ahli looked as if they were affected by the absence of injured newcomer winger Walid Suleiman, leaving fellow new signing Abdullah El-Said as the only creative player on the team's starting line-up in addition to veteran Mohamed Abu Treika who looked way past his form. Ahli dominated the first half thanks to El-Said's work in the right flank and the sharp through passes from Ahli's captain Hossam Ghali. Al-Gouna, who also have five points after stunning Ismaili with a 4-1 victory last week, relied only on tame counterattacks. In the first 30 minutes, Ahli squandered more than two scoring opportunities by Abu-Treika and El-Said. However, they kept the pressure on which paid off in the 37th minute when the lone striker Emad Meteb broke the deadlock. The Egypt striker received an inch-perfect cross from El-Said from the right wing with a header from a tight angle that went past Gouna keeper Mohamed Abdel-Monsef. Four minutes after restart, Al-Gouna surprisingly snatched the equaliser due to sloppy defending from Ahli's defenders. Former Ahli right winger Ahmed Adel whipped in a cross for Samuel Ocran who made good use of the slack defending, holding off challenger Ahmed Fathi to head the ball home from close range to level the score and stun the home crowd. Following the equaliser, Al-Gouna depended on the offside trap to paralyse Ahli's forwards. As a result, Jose introduced striking duo Dominique Da Silva and Brazilian Fabio Junior to support Meteb but they rarely made their presence felt. Later, midfielder Hossam Ashour was fielded, replacing Ghali but the trade-off made little impact. Al-Gouna's coach Anwar Salama said after the game that Jose's substitutions worked in his side's favour. "Frankly, Jose's substitutions helped us," former Ahli defender Salama said to a sports programme phone-in. "Particularly, Fabio Junior's introduction comforted me and my team since we didn't feel any danger from him," Salama added. Salama believes that Ahli will have a problem in the future as there are too many stars on the team. "There will always be questions as to who should play and in my opinion they should all play." In other matches, on the same day, Petrojet came back from a goal down to claim a precious 3-2 away win against Misr Lilmakassah while Haras Al-Hedoud got into winning ways after beating Wadi Degla 2-1. Misri tied 1-1 with Military Production and the Arab Contractors against Smouha ended by the same score. Elsewhere, Zamalek failed to take advantage of Ahli's sluggish start after they too were held to a 1-1 draw by Al-Gaish on Monday. The game was delayed for 15 minutes because of a problem with outfit colours. Zamalek played in an away purple uniform for the first time, a decision which was taken right before kickoff as hosts Al-Gaish were wearing white socks, the traditional colour of Zamalek It took Zamalek, who finished second last year, 29 minutes to break the deadlock thanks to Egypt skipper Ahmed Hassan. Some exceptional work by full back Ahmed Samir created the opportunity for Hassan who saw his effort take a couple of deflections before slowly rolling into the net. In the 32th minute, Zamalek had an appeal for a penalty turned down when Omar Gaber's cross hit the right hand of Al-Gaish's defender Sameh Hassan. It was the defender's third suspected handball, leaving the players and fans astonished. After less than a minute, Al-Gaish levelled the score when former Zamalek striker Ernest Papa Arko notched home a superb cross from his mate Salah Amin which put the ball past Abdel-Wahed El-Sayed. In the 53rd minute, Amr Zaki thought he gave his side the lead again but referee Gehad Greisha cancelled the goal as Zaki was clearly offside. A rash of insults hurled at Greisha from the crowd forced him to halt the game for a minute while Zamalek coach Hassan Shehata tried to calm down the spectators. In order to end with a draw, Farouk Gaafer's team relied on the counter-attack and applied a defensive strategy. Ismaili were also held to a 1-1 home draw by Ittihad. The game saw clashes between the fans of the two teams minutes before the break although the score was still 0-0. Enppi defeated newcomers Dakhliya 3-2 while newly-promoted Beni Suef Telephones thrashed Spinning Mehalla 3-0 in Mehallah. Meanwhile, Zamalek announced they will host Spanish giants Atletico Madrid in a friendly on 10 November as part of their centennial celebrations. "The centennial committee, which is headed by board member Ahmed Sherine Fawzi, will hold a press conference on Tuesday to reveal all the details regarding the Atletico Madrid match," Zamalek said in a statement on their official website. "All the stars of Atletico Madrid will arrive in Egypt on 9 November and take part in the match one day later. The club will honour many of its icons during a big football festival." Earlier, supporters were angry that Zamalek's board had failed to arrange any friendly game or entertaining events to celebrate the club's centenary year. Zamalek said on several occasions that the likes of Real Madrid, Manchester United and Inter Milan were ready to play them this year but a deal never materialised. In 2007, when Ahli celebrated their 100th birthday, it was Barcelona which came to Cairo to party. Barcelona won 4-0.
