The first round of the Egyptian League ended with smiles everywhere, Ahmed Morsy wonders whether the smirk will last in the coming phase Zamalek ended a six-match winless run on Saturday after claiming a well-earned 3-1 victory over a stubborn Police Union in the final match of round one of the Egyptian national League. Zamalek had to win the match at all costs, as another loss would have spelled disaster for the out-of-sorts side, who were just three points above the relegation zone ahead of the game since there last win in the domestic League was in October. Mahmoud Abdul-Razek, aka Shikabala, opened the scoring early in the 12th minute, before defender Yasser Mustafa scored the equaliser three minutes later. Meanwhile nine minutes before the interval Abdul-Halim Ali gave the lead again to his side Zamalek, and Junior Agogo put the icing on the cake in the 70th minute. After suffering long from suspensions, Zamalek were boosted by the return of Ghanaian striker Agogo, who served three-match suspension due to improper conduct. In addition, veteran hitman Ali also came on as a starter after a long period on the fringes with fitness problems. Defensive duo Mahmoud Fathallah and Hani Saied also took part in the game after going on a pilgrimage to Mecca. And recently-reprieved trio Mohamed Aboul-Ella, Gamal Hamza and Ayman Abdul-Aziz came on as second-half substitutes. On the other hand, and in spite of the rumours, French Henri Michel snubbed Zamalek's offer to return to the club and become their new coach, the coach's boss Patrice Mompese told the South African website kick-off.com on Saturday. "We turned down their offer due to the coach's commitment to Sundowns," he said. "I can confirm that Michel is going nowhere as he is still contracted to Sundowns." Earlier, Zamalek had revealed that Michel was a frontrunner to take over at the Cairo giants for another spell, having previously managed the club for seven months in 2007. The Egyptian cup title holders sought to replace German tactician Reiner Hollmann, who was sacked after a string of poor results. Former Zamalek player Ahmed Refaat was appointed as the team's interim coach. It remains to be seen whether Zamalek will keep faith with Refaat, who led the team to their first Egyptian League victory in six matches following a convincing 3-1 win over Police Union. Despite the end of round one, there are five postponed matches for title holders Ahli due to their participation in the Africa Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup, in which they desperately snatched sixth place. The Egyptian Football Association scheduled the five games to be played before the beginning of the second round in the first week of February, in order to begin the second round with a clean table from postponed matches. The first match against Tersana, postponed from the 12th week of the League, is to be played 29 December while the second postponed match is against Ismaili and is due to be played on 3 January next year, postponed from the fifth week. As for the Cairo derby, Ahli are scheduled to clash against Zamalek 11 January, while on 19 January Ahli will meet on Haras El-Hedoud in an encounter which had initially been set for the 14th week. Besides, the last postponed game is scheduled to be in the 31st of January against El-Gaish. As things stand Petrojet alone tops the League table with 30 points with Ismaili chasing them in the second spot with 29. However, the five postponed games may alter the League table standings since Ahli may well retake the lead if they win all the games. Right now, they stand at sixth place with 20 points. Petrojet star Waleed Soliman scored six minutes into injury time to salvage a dramatic 1-1 draw for Egyptian League leaders Petrojet against third-placed Enppi on Saturday. Elsewhere, Ittihad beat Spinning Mehalla 1-0 in Alexandria, thanks to a controversial header by Abdul- Hamid Hassan. Conversely, nine-man Ismaili staged a remarkable second- half comeback to beat struggling side Tersana 2-1 and leapfrog Enppi into second place of the Egyptian League table.
