CAIRO - The second week of the Egyptian Premier League will kick off Tuesday with five clashes, while the rest of the games will resume Wednesday with four matches. Both Al-Ahly and Petrojet clubs have finished their preparations for their crucial clash at the 2nd week of the 2011/2012 Egyptian Premier League. Al-Ahly coach Manuel José da Silva has asked the players to be calm and to concentrate during the coming period starting with the challenging game against Petrojet today at the Suez Stadium. "José urged the players to concentrate and to be calm to attain an early win against Petrojet," sources at Al-Ahly camp said, stressing that the Portuguese coach had urged the players to enjoy playing. Al-Ahly started the league with a 1-0 win against Haras el-Hodoud in Alexandria Stadium last Friday, thanks to a second-half header by Emad Meteab. "The win against Petrojet will be a pushing start for the team's defence of the League title," he added. "Mohamed Shawqi will be ready for today's game," Al-Ahly's doctor, Ihab Ali, told the team, as reported on the official website. The player's fitness to play had been doubtful after his injuries sustained during the game against el-Hodoud. José suspended Dominic D' Silve, Sherif Abdel Fadil, Mohamed Fadl and Moatez Inno while El-Sayyed Hamdi comes back for the match's line-up. Concerning the opening performance of the team at the start of the league against el-Hodoud, the Red Devils' assistant coach Mohamed Youssef stated: "We achieved the main aim of the goal to win and collected the first three points at the league." Ahly began the game with a line-up that included four names of the summer signings; the Brazilian Fabio Junior, Mohamed Naguib, Walid Soliman and Abdullah el-Said. "We know that the team didn't achieve its optimum performance,” Youssef admitted. “But we still at the beginning of the league. Our last official game was against Enppi in Egypt's Cup, since then we haven't played formal ones.” He added: "We played with the 4-4-2 formation in the el-Hodoud game, yet this doesn't mean that we will employ it in the coming matches." Youssef explained that the coaching staff trained the players in different tactics and formations. Taha Besri, Petrojet technical coach stated that his side has finished its preparation for what he knew would be a difficult game against Al-Ahly. “We have prepared well to achieve positive result," he said after the last training session. "We have many injuries, such as the defender Mohamed Younis, but we have trained the alternatives to fill the gap," added the ex-Zamalek coach, pointing out that Al-Ahly is now considered one of the best Egyptian, Arab and African teams in the region. "We respect the team, but we will do our best to achieve a positive result." Zamalek, meanwhile, finished their preparation for their game against Mahallah in Ismailia Stadium Wednesday. The White Knights are seeking to please their fans with a win after the sudden loss of the Egyptian Cup against Enppi last week. According to media reports, the coaching staff, headed by Hassan Shehata, refused to change the tactics formation of the team from 4-4-2 to 3-5-2.
The 2nd week of the Egyptian Premier League fixtures: Tuesday 18 October matches: El-Masry v El-Geish Police Union v Smouha Haras el-Hedoud v Misr Elmaqasah (MCSD) Petrojet v Al-Ahly Arab Contractors v Military Production Wednesday 19 October matches: Talephonat Bani-Sweef v Wady Degla El-Gouna v Ismaili Ittihad v Enppi Zamalek v Mahallah
