Haytham Farouk weighs in on Egyptian derby

CAIRO – 17 July 2017: Egypt Today asked one of the leading Egyptian pundits Haytham Farouk about his opinion of the Egyptian derby that will be held Monday between Zamalek and Al-Ahly SC.

Former Zamalek and Egyptian national team player, Farouk said he believes “that the match won’t be very heated between the two teams. Both teams don’t really have strong motivation to win the match. However Al-Ahly would like to end the match without conceding a loss and Zamalek SC would be willing to end the season strong in third place after exiting the CAF Champions League.”

Farouk continued saying, “both teams will enter the match focusing on not losing but also not with a mindset about wanting to win. This way of thinking is different from going into the match wanting to win.”

“I doubt that there will a tough competition between the two teams, unlike the first leg which displayed great rivalry between the two teams,” Farouk said. “However, Al-Ahly will want to continue their winning streak in the league against Zamalek SC, which has continued since 2007; while Zamalek SC will be looking to beat Al-Ahly in the league for the first time in 10 years.”

On his prediction of the score of the match, Zamalek’s veteran player said, “hopefully 1-0 for Zamalek.”

“Generally I predict that such matches will not be as tough and heated as the first leg,” Farouk said.