THE CHANCES of defending champions Ahly retaining their Egyptian football league title leapt by several percentage points after they beat first-place team Pyramids 3-2 to close the gap significantly, reports Alaa Abdel-Ghani.
Friday’s victory, the highlight of which was a screamer by substitute midfielder Magdi Afsha with five minutes left, breaking a 2-2 deadlock, gave Ahly 60 points from 24 games, eight points behind Pyramids but with four games in hand.
Should Ahli win those games, they would jump to the top of the standings, four points ahead.
The Egyptian league is 34 matches.
Ahly, who came back from a 2-1 deficit, opened the scoring in the 17th minute when Hussein Al-Shahat found Palestinian striker Wessam Abu Ali inexplicably all alone for a simple right foot tap-in from close range.
But Pyramids levelled just eight minutes later when Walid Al-Karti launched a defence-splitting pass down the middle from midfield that put Congolese striker Fiston Mayele one on one with Ahly goalkeeper Mohamed Al-Shinnawi who had no chance.
Pyramids took the lead in minute 51 when Al-Shinnawi completely mistimed a centering ball, allowing defender Ahmed Sami to head into an empty net.
However, Pyramids’ one-goal lead was short-lived — 10 minutes exactly — when Al-Shahat was fouled by defender Mohamed Hamdi inside the penalty area even though replays would suggest that contact was not enough for a spot kick.
Nevertheless, Abu Ali stepped up and sent Ahmed Al-Shinnawi (no relation to the Ahly keeper) the wrong way.
With time running out and a draw looking the likelier score, Afsha, who had been on the field for only a couple of minutes, let fly from just outside the penalty box, burying the ball past a flailing Al-Shinnawi for a priceless three points for Ahly.
The goal was reminiscent of Afsha’s strike in the final of the 2020 African Champions League final with cross-town foes Zamalek that Ahly won 2-1 with three minutes left.
Ahly and Pyramids, who have not won the league since they were founded six year ago, have a second rendezvous on 22 July, meaning it’s not yet over for Pyramids who were on a 14-game winning streak before meeting Ahly.
But the win also extended Ahly’s own winning streak to 13 with 10 matches remaining.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 18 July, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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