ZAMALEK are the favourites for the Egyptian cup title after Ahli and Ismaili bowed out with defeats to Petroleum Assiut and Petrojet respectively. With three second half goals, Petrojet produced a brilliant display on Friday, knocking Ismaili out of round 16, 3-0. Hussein Ali broke the deadlock six minutes after the break from close range and doubled the lead in the 68th minute from the spot. Ivorian striker Zika Gori completed the rout four minutes before time. Petrojet will face Haras Al-Hedoud which defeated Telecom Egypt 3-1 on penalties after a 2-2 draw. Zamalek beat Maliyet Kafr Al-Zayyat 2-0 on Friday to reach the quarter-finals and a match against Suez Cement which edged Misri 1-0 the day before. Zamalek's Mustafa Gaafar headed the opener in the 45th minute and Gamal Hamza secured the win three minutes from time. Despite the score, second division Maliyet Kafr Al-Zayyat stunned Zamalek with an impressive performance, breaking through their slow defence with some fast counter- attacks. Zamalek assistant coach Ayman Mansour blamed his side's unconvincing win on poor fitness. However, he was satisfied by the score. "We qualified to the quarters but the players failed to put on a good display due to lack of fitness," Mansour told a press conference after the game. "We wanted them to score early but they lacked efficiency and imagination in front of goal." Enppi, Ittihad of Alexandria and Aluminum beat Petroleum Assiut, Tersana and Military Production to go through to the quarter-finals. Suez Cement produced a brilliant display, beating Misri 3-0 on home soil. Enppi eased past Petroleum Assiut who knocked defending champions Ahli out of the cup in the first round. Enppi won 2-0 courtesy of goals from Di Foneye and Salah Ashour. Aluminium registered the biggest win of the day after thrashing Military Production 5-0 in Cairo and set up a meeting with the Arab Contractors, who knocked out Al-Geish after a hard fought encounter 4-3 on penalties after a 4-4 draw in regulation time. The quarter-finals will began after the end of the African Cup of Nations on 10 February so as each team is able to field their international players who did not play in the first two rounds of the cup.
