The Cairo derby between traditional arch-rivals Al-Ahly and Zamalek will be held on Friday as previously planned, the Egyptian Football Association's (EFA) Competition Committee said Saturday night. Several pundits and newspapers called on the Competition Committee to postpone the game after the rioting that marred Zamalek's 1-1 Egyptian Premier League draw with Police Union on Wednesday. A free-for-all erupted after the final whistle, resulting in eight-match and three-match bans for Zamalek's duo Hazem Imam and Alaa Ali respectively. Zamalek's football director Ibrahim Hassan has been banned from attending the team's matches until the end of the season, as has Police Union's assistant coach Mohamed Ibrahim. The White Knights' officials and fans consistently accuse the EFA of favouring Ahly. Meanwhile, Zamalek's General Manager Alaa Maqlad has contacted Police Union's officials in a bid to settle the crisis. Hopefully this will happen within the next few hours. Zamalek's board member Ahmed Galal denies that the club has called for postponing the Ahly-Zamalek derby, adding that coach Hossam Hassan is working on calming down the players following Wednesday's problems. Zamalek have, however, urged the EFA to reduce Imam's and Ali's bans. "We have no intention to postpone the game. All the reports to contrary are totally untrue," the committee's chief Amer Barakat told FilGoal.com. "Our timetable is very tight and we are doing our best to finish the domestic competitions before the World Cup. We cannot afford to postpone a game without good cause." Meanwhile, Ahly's coach Hossam el-Badri left Ahmed Hassan out of the Red Devils' squad for their league game against Al-Ittihad in Cairo, on Sunday, for their face-off with Zamalek. The veteran midfielder is suffering from fatigue and el-Badri has decided to give him some rest ahead of the game with Zamalek next weekend, according to Al-Ahly's official site. Winger Sayyed Moawad, whose toes are hurting, goalie Sherif Ekrami and Angolan wide man Gilberto were all ruled out through injury.
