Egyptian referees are unlikely to breathe a sigh of relief soon after some controversial decisions from Samir Othman during Ahli's 2-1 win over ENPPI increased pressure on them. ENPPI opened the scoring early in the second half of Thursday's Egyptian Premier League tie but they could not hold onto their advantage. A brace from classy playmaker Mohamed Abou-Treika, including a re-taken penalty, gave Ahli a precious victory but ENPPI questioned its validity. The hosts had two goals disallowed for offside either side of the interval. Striker Ahmed Abdul-Zaher appeared to be played onside by Ahli's right-back Ahmed Ali when he found the net in the first half but Othman ruled out his effort. Ivorian frontman Vincent Die Foneye scored another goal in the second period but ENPPI were once again denied by the whistle of Othman, who took into consideration the flag of his assistants. "The referee's mistakes were not normal," ENPPI coach Diaa Al-Sayed said in a television interview after the match.
Ahli overcome ENPPI in controversial fashion "He wrongfully disallowed two goals for us and did not award us a clear penalty for a foul on Die Foneye. "He turned a blind eye to those incidents. He was unfair and that cost us a victory tonight." Egyptian referees have been already criticized by several teams in the league, including Ahli who said they considered asking the Egyptian FA to bring in foreign officials for their games. Promoted Mansoura, who look destined to go down after one season in the top flight, threatened to withdraw from the premier domestic competition after losing 1-0 to Police Union earlier this month. Al-Sayed, who was in charge of ENPPI early in the season but was demoted to assistant coach after a poor run of results, believes referees are favoring top teams. "The referees do their best so that Ahli do not concede more than one goal in every game," Al-Sayed, the assistant of Bulgarian manager Stoycho Mladenov, added in a sarcastic tone. "They rule in favor of the teams who compete for the title at the expense of those who do not."
