CAIRO - Egypt soccer experts agree that this year's Egyptian Premier League is going to be one of the most challenging competitions in recent years, as all 19 clubs in the top flight this season are looking strong. They, therefore, expect the competition to be ruthless during the coming weeks and months. The experts say that, in the first six weeks of the season, most of the clubs played very well, with the small clubs undaunted by the giant ones. The Premier League has now been put on hold for about the next six weeks, as the Egyptian Olympic team will be playing in the African Under-23 Championship, which is a qualifier for the 2012 London Olympics. The two big upsets so far this season were in the second week, when El-Gouna stunned Ismaili 4-1, and then in the sixth week, just a few days ago, when Police Union defeated Zamalek 2-1. The Ahly-Petrojet clash, which ended in a 2-2 draw, Talefounat Beni-Sueif surprising El-Geish with a 2-1 victory, Ittihad stunning Enppi 3-0 and Misr Elmaqasah (MCSD) trouncing Ittihad 5-2 have all been thrilling matches. But, on the negative side, some of the fixtures have been marred by violence and fans letting off fireworks, making the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) force the country's giant clubs to play matches behind closed doors. This sanction has been imposed on Egypt's two top teams, whose fans repeatedly set off fireworks during their games in the fourth week. Ahly fans used fireworks during their game against el-Ittihad, while Zamalek fans did the same thing in the clash against Military Production. Taha Besri, the Petrojet coach and formerly the Zamalek coach, says that, so far this season, there's really not much to choose between most of the teams. "They've been playing good football, especially the newly promoted ones," he stresses. However, the Petrojet coach explains that the EFA decision to increase the numbers of clubs in the Premier League this season means they have to play more matches. "This will negatively affect the technical performance of the players," says Besri, adding that the new system will also see the players suffering more injuries. Farouq Gaafar, another soccer expert, says that the competition this year is really exciting. "It's great that the small clubs are catching up with the big teams," Gaafar stresses, although he points out that the increase in the number of clubs means they will each have to play a match every three days. "Egyptian players are not used to this," he points out. Taha Ismail, also soccer expert, comments that this new system is a real problem for the coaches, because of all the injuries expected. “But there is a solution. Most coaches depend only on 11 players, while they have 25 players registered. They should, therefore, make full use of every player they have,” he explains. Newly promoted MCSD are the black horses so far this season. They are in a very impressive third place, hot on the heels of Ahly (top) and Haras el-Hodoud (second). Police Union are in fourth place, as Zamalek slumped to fifth place after that astonishing 2-1 loss to Police. "All teams are vying for three points in every match, no matter how big the opposition," says Gaafar, explaining that teams with enough well-prepared players will be able to cope with the pressure. "Fans setting off fireworks have been the most disturbing thing so far this season.” Tareq el-Ashri, Haras el-Hodoud technical coach, says that most league teams are improving from one match to another. "After six weeks, the teams are all very close to each other in the League table. It's all very exciting,” he comments. The best match, so far, has surely been the Police Union-Zamalek clash, which saw the White Knights handed a 2-1 defeat behind closed doors at the Cairo Stadium. The first half was marred by Zamalek fans breaking and entering into the stadium. Ahly, meanwhile, beat Enppi 3-2 in an exhilarating match in the same week. This was the first league defeat for Hassan Shehata as the technical coach of Zamalek, who have sunk to fifth place with 10 points from five games, with a game in hand against Wadi Degla. "The competition this season is very tough, as most teams are desperate to grab all the three points in each game," according to Ismail Youssef, the general coach of Zamalek. The ex-Gouna coach adds that teams are not afraid to go forward and look for goals, even if they concede a few too. Remarkably, the first six weeks of the league witnessed the sacking of four coaches: the twins Hossam and Ibrahim Hassan of Ismaili; Mahalla coach Salah el-Nahei after Zamalek crushed them 6-1; Smouha coach Mimi Abdel-Razeq after they were held by El-Masry 1-1; and the Military Production coach Kamal Etman when Haras el-Hedoud beat them 3-0. Local, Egyptian coaches who've been doing very well this season include Tareq Yehia, MCSD technical coach; Hamza el-Jamal, Talefounat Beni-Sueif coach; Tareq el-Ashri, Haras el-Hodoud technical coach; Helmi Toulon, Police Union coach; and El-Gouna coach Anwar Salama.
