CAIRO - Al-Ahly technical coach Manuel José da Silva held a training session followed by a meeting Wednesday with the team's players explaining the mistakes they had made during Al-Ahly's match this week against Petrojet, warning them against losing any more points in the coming period. Petrojet held Al-Ahly to a 2-2 draw Tuesday night in the second week of the Egyptian Premier League. "José asked the players to concentrate more in future and not to repeat the previous mistakes that led to the loss of two precious points against Petrojet," the club official website said. The team's football director Sayyed Abdel-Hafiz, meanwhile, denied Wednesday reports claiming that Jose had sacked goalkeeping coach Ahmed Naggi after the Petrojet 2-2 draw. "These reports are baseless, as Naggi is one of the best goalkeepers' coaches in Egypt," Abdel-Hafiz was quoted as saying on the club's official website Wednesday. According to some media reports, while José was on the bus after the game, he criticised Naggi because of the team's goalkeeper Sherif Ekrami's mistakes, which resulted in the team drawing and losing two valuable points. Abdel-Hafiz pointed out that there has been no disciplinary action taken yet against the players as the League will go on for a long time and every player is wanted. "The players have noted that we are not to lose any more points in order to keep the title," he stressed. Concerning the team's playmaker Walid Soliman, who was substituted in the game, Abdel-Hafiz explained that this was to protect the player from injury. "Soliman felt some pain, so we decided to take him off to avoid increasing his injury," Abdul-Hafiz told Al-Ahly's satellite channel, stressing that the coaching staff is not satisfied with the team's performance. Portuguese general coach Pedro, meanwhile, explained that the players had not followed the coaching staff instructions as stated before the game, and, as a result, they had made mistakes that led to the draw. "The players did not carry out the coaching staff's instructions, which led them to missing many chances at many times during the game," Pedro said. In the meantime, Taha Besri, Petrojet coach, expressed his happiness after the 2-2 draw with Al-Ahly, promising that his team will be even better in the coming period. "I have achieved what I want from the Al-Ahly game," Besri said after the game, describing Al-Ahly team as “The best in the Arab region”. He added:“It is a great team that has many talented stars and achieving a draw with it is a satisfying result." Elsewhere, El-Masry was held to a 1-1 draw with El-Geish, Police Union stunned Smouha with a 2-0 win and and head the league with six points, Haras el-Hodoud were held to a1-1 draw by Misr Elmaqasah (MCSD) and Arab Contractors to a 0-0 draw by Military Production.
