Zamalek .. Did the "School of Art and Engineering" open its doors again?

With few exceptions, the Egyptians in terms of football are divided into either Zamalek or Al-Ahly, and the confrontations that bring together the Zamalek and Al-Ahly teams are the summit confrontations in Egyptian football and one of the most prominent football summits on the Arab and African levels for more than a century.

Zamalek, then, represents with Al-Ahly the poles of Egyptian football, although talking in the language of numbers gives superiority to the latter in terms of the number of local and continental championships, while Zamalek is satisfied with prominence and brilliance at varying periods.

Despite the difference in generations and their succession, Al-Ahly players have always been famous for their spirit and striving to win even at the last moments. Therefore, his fans called the players the “Red Devils”, while Zamalek was famous for its aesthetic performance, and therefore its natural nickname on the part of the fans was “School of Art and Engineering”.

Zamalek grabbed the spotlight in recent days after it seemed that it was moving at a steady pace towards retaining the league title that it won last season after 5 consecutive titles for its traditional rival, knowing that it also won the cup title last season after beating Al-Ahly about two weeks ago to achieve the league and local cup double for the time. fourth in its history.

But what was remarkable was a number of factors, led by the combination of strong results and the beautiful performance of Zamalek, which reminded the masses of previous generations that deserved the title of "School of Art and Engineering" thanks to a clear superiority in the aesthetics of performance, even if the results were not accompanied along the line.

Adverse circumstances

The interesting thing is that this performance comes despite adverse circumstances, most notably that the team started the current season deprived of the possibility of strengthening its ranks due to a penalty imposed by the International Sports Court on Zamalek by depriving him of registering new players for two registration periods, due to a violation related to the registration of the emerging player Hossam Ashraf.

The second adverse circumstance is the change of coach, as Frenchman Patrice Carteron was sacked after 11 rounds of the local league championship, due to poor results, especially in the African Champions League, and the signing of Portuguese Josevaldo Ferreira.

Zamalek also faced a difficult situation in the decisive stage of the competition for the league championship with the departure of its two Moroccan stars, Ashraf Bencharki and Mohamed Onajem, whose contracts expired at the end of last June, while the current season extends to late August due to a clear confusion in the management of competitions in Egypt. the last two.

At the crucial stage, Zamalek also lost the services of its central star, Tariq Hamed, and his main guard, Muhammad Abu Jabal, for disciplinary reasons, as the club decided to stop them and announced that they were not needed for the remainder of the season.

Although Bencharki in particular was one of the most prominent winning cards in Zamalek, the team continued its progress and victories, becoming close to retaining the local title. 5 rounds before the end, Zamalek was 7 points ahead of the second-placed Pyramids, and 9 points from Al-Ahly, who played a match less.

Zamalek star Mahmoud Abdel Razek Shikabala holds the Egypt Cup (Al Jazeera)

trumps

Bencharki left after a high performance most of the season, but other stars continued to shine, led by Ahmed Sayed Zizou, who tops the list of scorers with 16 goals, 3 goals ahead of his closest pursuers, and also tops the list of the best playmakers, where he made 10 more goals for his teammates.

The second star who grabbed the spotlight was Imam Ashour, thanks to his great effort in the midfield, and his skills and shots that helped him always advance to support the attack and score many goals, even though he plays as a defensive midfielder.

In defense, the star Mahmoud Hamdi "Al Wansh" imposed himself as a first star thanks to his valor, and the left-back, who had offensive contributions, Ahmed Aboul Fotouh, also starred with him.

When talking about the winning cards, the role of team leader Mahmoud Abdel Razek, known as “Shikabala”, cannot be overlooked, who plays a major role, whether on or off the field. In motivating his colleagues and containing them as an assistant coach, as well as combining registration and playmaking.

Moroccan star Achraf Bencharki contributed to the brilliance of Zamalek during the last two seasons (Reuters)

the coach

Zamalek fans were worried about changing the coach during the season when it was decided to leave Carteron last February, but they quickly felt relieved when they learned that the new coach would be Ferreira, who had previously taken over the task in early 2015 and led Zamalek to combine the league and cup titles after winning the final. Ali, the traditional rival, before resigning at the end of the year after losing the Super Cup to Al-Ahly.

Ferreira, 76, has a rich career in the world of coaching, which included a number of top clubs in Portugal, such as Porto, Sporting Lisbon and Benfica. He also trained Greece's Panathinaikos, Qatar's Al Sadd and the Royal Moroccan Army.

This "professor" was very popular during his two periods with Zamalek, especially with his apparent control over the team, and his ingenuity in motivating players and bringing together different generations in the team's lineup.

Portuguese coach Josevaldo Ferreira (Reuters)

Administration

The Egyptian media has always talked about Al-Ahly’s historical superiority with regard to its management and its ability to impose discipline and provide stability to the football team, but what is interesting is that Zamalek’s superiority over the green rectangle in the past two years has benefited from a clear improvement on the administrative side.

Although the club's president, Mortada Mansour, a controversial politician and parliamentarian known for his loud statements, the team witnessed the last two seasons a state of discipline and stability at the administrative level, which was clearly reflected in the team's march and results.

After Zamalek was famous for pampering its big stars and the inability of the management to contain the players’ problems, we saw the club this season dispensing with important players and giving the opportunity to the youth as well as its support for the coach and not interfering in his work. He achieved it at the continental level during the twentieth century before the superiority was transferred to its traditional rival.

The fans of Zamalek seem in a state of happiness, especially after two local coronations and approaching a third coronation, but their happiness may be doubled because these achievements are accompanied by a beautiful performance that says that the "School of Art and Engineering" has opened its doors again.