Former Egypt striker Hossam Hassan worked his magic to inspire Masri to a stunning 5-2 away victory over Ittihad in the Egyptian League opener. Masri do not have abundance of talent within their ranks but Hassan, who lacks sufficient coaching experience, helped his team grow beyond any expectations. Hassan, who has just celebrated his 42nd birthday, is widely appreciated by Masri fans for turning around the team's fortunes. He took charge of the Port Said-based club while they were struggling at the bottom last season, lifting them up for a ninth-place finish in the league. And Masri's start this season is very promising. “I'm reaping the rewards of my hard work since taking charge of Masri,” Hassan, who won a record 170 caps for Egypt, said after the match. A hat-trick by forward Mohamed Al-Gabbas in the last ten minutes gave Masri a thrilling win over Ittihad in Alexandria. ”Our aim was to win, but we didn't expect to win by that wide margin. I'm very happy that Masri opened their league campaign in such way,” Hassan added. Teammates Scuffle Zamalek kicked off their Egyptian League campaign with a convincing 2-0 victory over Ghazl Mahalla, but the match was marred by a bizarre incident just before halftime. Brazilian full-back Ricardo Alves engaged in a scuffle with teammate Gamal Hamza for unknown reasons. Hamza, known for being a temperamental forward, slapped Ricardo and the latter responded in the same manner.
Hamza argued with Ricardo Zamalek captain Ayman Abdul-Aziz intervened along with his teammates to separate the duo. Although Hamza appeared to be the one who confronted Ricardo, referee Essam Abdul-Fattah dismissed the latter. “The team's technical staff will do what it takes to ensure that discipline is maintained,” Zamalek assistant coach Tarek Yehia said. “Any disobedient player will be punished. Principles will have the upper hand over anything else. There is no room for leniency here.” Numerical Disadvantage: An Advantage Playing with ten men on the pitch is always a disadvantage, but that was not the case in the Egyptian League opening round. Zamalek were leading 1-0 when Ricardo was sent-off against Mahalla, who had their hopes of claiming the equalizer revived. But despite the Cairo giants' numerical disadvantage, they managed to expose Mahalla's defense on several occasions. They even doubled their lead through a header from defender Mahmoud Fathallah. Last season's runners-up Ismaili had a similar experience that could lead to more courageous attitudes from Egyptian League teams. Ismaili's newly-signed defender Ibrahim Saied was sent-off on his debut while the Dervishes were having a 2-1 lead over Egyptian Cup finalists ENPPI. However, Ismaili added a third through Iraqi striker Mostafa Karim to put the result beyond doubt. “We should have capitalized on our numerical advantage,” ENPPI's assistant coach Hani Ramzi said in a disappointed tone.
