Zamalek failed to win their first title in three years after giving away a one-goal lead to lose 2-1 to ENPPI in the Egypt Cup final. Amr Zaki's 49th minute goal was cancelled by Adel Mostafa six minutes later as Ahmed Abdul-Zaher snatched the winner for ENPPI nine minutes from time. Abdul-Zaher's killer stunned more than 70,000 Zamalek supporters at Cairo Stadium, handing ENPPI their second-ever trophy. Zamalek closer Zamalek always looked closer to breaking the deadlock in the first half, with Abdul-Wahed Al-Sayed hardly moving a muscle in goal. On the contrary, ENPPI keeper Mohamed Abou-Gabal had to deal with several situations menacing his goal, including a disallowed goal by Ahmed Hassan inside the first quarter.
Zaki's goal was never enough Abou-Gabal was then tested by a powerful drive from Shikabala as Ahmed Gaafar headed wide on the rebound with the ENPPI keeper on the ground, in what proved to the chance of the half. ENPPI coach Mokhtar Mokhtar was forced to take off influential defender Amr Fahim after 26 minutes, introducing former Ahli midfielder Hussein Ali. ENPPI strike lucky Zamalek remained in charge after the break and the in-form Zaki was there to haunt his former club once again, converting Hazem Emam's cross past Abou-Gabal. The goal sent the Cairo Stadium fans into raptures but the celebrations didn't last long as ENPPI were awarded a penalty shortly after when Mahmoud Fathallah handled the ball after applying an unsuccessful tackle to deal with Ahmed Raouf's dummy. Mostafa, who scored twice for ENPPI in the semi-final against Arab Contractors, stepped up to see his effort hit the post, only for the ball to touch Abdul-Wahed's arm and return to the midfielder's mercy for an easy equalizer.
Ironically, it was the same minute that saw Zaki win the cup for the Whites three years ago at the expense of ENPPI. Zamalek panicked for a while yet they remained the better side, with ENPPI losing another center-half to injury in veteran Abdul-Zaher Al-Saqqa. Hassan had a golden chance to win the game for Zamalek when Shikabala picked him out with a pinpoint cross, but the Egypt skipper shockingly headed over the bar despite the absence of marking from the ENPPI defense. Hassan Shehata brought on Omar Gaber, Alaa Ali and Hussein Hamdi as his side remained in control, but it was Mokhtar's side who grabbed the priceless winner on the counter. Striker Raouf was lucky to see his sliced shot from the right accidently go into the path of the clear-on-goal Abdul-Zaher inside the area, and the Egypt international dispatched the ball between the legs of Abdul-Wahed into the net. Ironically, it was the same minute that saw Zaki win the cup for the Whites three years ago at the expense of ENPPI. Zamalek upped the desperation stakes for the remaining minutes, but struggled to breach a heroic ENPPI side, who deserved to come out as winners after losing two center-halves to injury during the game.
