Just few months ago, even the most optimistic Ismaili fan wouldn't have imagined that his club will have a 50% chance of winning the Egyptian Premier League title. Now the Dervishes are joint leaders with Ahli on 60 points, and they can win the competition if they beat Tersana in Suez on Wednesday and Ahli fail to defeat Gaish. If tied on points after Wednesday's final round, the two teams will undergo a league decider on May 24th. It wasn't until mid April that the coastal club started believing in their title chances. Ricardo's men finally took advantage of Ahli's slip ups and they suddenly had the world to play for. Prior to that, no one at the club was even considering the prospect of winning the title. "After today's result, I think that we are out of the title race," assistant coach Ahmed Al-Agouz said following a 2-2 draw with Police Union on April 2nd. "Realistically, it will be very difficult to catch Ahli," he added.
Club chairman Nasr Aboul-Hassan himself admitted that chasing the title was way above their ambitions for the current season. "Our main objective this season is to build a competent team," he said in quotes released to FilGoal.com on April 6th. "Competing for the league title over the past months was additional, and the board takes the credit for that. Hopeless Tersana On the other side, Tersana have absolutely nothing to play for. Alongside Olympic, the Hammers are guaranteed relegation to the second division. Yehia Al-Sayed's team are lying 15th in the table with 24 points, five behind Telecom Egypt. However, such stats can be a threat for Ismaili, as Tersana players will take on the clash less pressured and with nothing to lose.
