While Egyptian football was shocked by Ahli's 3-1 home defeat to Etoile Sahel in the CAF Champions League final, the contribution of foreign-based players at the weekend did not bring any positive results as well. Among the 15 Egyptians plying their trade outside Egypt, a massive number of 13 players failed to make an appearance for their respective clubs. None of the four Egyptians playing in the Turkish Super League featured over the weekend. Konyaspor's unsettled duo Mohamed Abdullah and Abdul-Zaher Al-Saqqa were absent from their side's 2-1 win over Rizespor, as the latter decided to quit and join lowly team Genclerbirligi. Midfielder Ayman Abdul-Aziz, who has been normally a regular for Trabzonspor since joining last season, was surprisingly omitted from the team's 2-0 defeat at Denizlispor. Finally, Ibrahim Saied remained out of favor at Ankaragucu, even with the recent departure of manager Hans-Peter Briegel. Rest of Europe In England, Middlesbrough injured striker Ahmed Hossam 'Mido' was ruled out of the 0-0 draw with Bolton, while Mohamed Shawky did not appear as well despite making the bench.
Shawky The fine form of Hamburg duo Ivica Olic and Paolo Guerrero is giving Mohamed Zidan a hard time in Germany, as the Egypt forward failed to make the 18-man squad against Schalke. The same applied to Feyenoord goalkeeper Sherif Ekrami, who is yet to make his season debut for the Dutch side, so as Amr Al-Halawani, who plays for Greece's Apollon Kalamaria. In the French Ligue1, there were no signs for Ahmed Abou-Mosallam, who continued his poor season with Strasbourg under the management of new coach Jean-Marc Furlan. Defeat for participants The only two players who managed to represent their sides were Anderlecht's Ahmed Hassan and Kazma's Ahmed Fathi. However, Hassan and Co. suffered a disappointing defeat to mid-table side Germinal Beerschot, resulting in the departure of manager Frank Vercauteren, who signed the Egypt skipper in 2006. While Kazma's Fathi were handed a 2-1 defeat to Al-Nassr in the Kuwaiti Crown Prince Cup last 16 phase. The recovery of Fathi's Egyptian teammate at Kazma Amr Fathi 'Samaka', was not enough for the skilful playmaker, who remained out of action.
