Foreign referee for Egyptian Cup final

CAIRO – 10 May 2018: Smouha President Mohamed Farag Amer revealed on Wednesday that a foreign referee will take charge of the Egyptian Cup final, according to Filgoal.

“The federation accepted our request to appoint a foreign referee for our game against Zamalek and we will afford his cost,” Amer told Filgoal.

Smouha reached the final after defeating Al-Assiouty in the Egyptian Cup semi-finals on penalties at Borg El Arab Stadium in Alexandria on Tuesday night.

Ahmed Temsah opened the score for Smouha with a strike, which the opponent’s goalkeeper failed to stop.

Smouha’s defense stopped all the attempts from Al-Assiouty to equalize the score, but their striker, Benson Shilongo, won a penalty and converted it one minute before the final whistle.

The regular time ended with a 1-1 draw and both teams failed to score more goals in the extra time, so the game was decided by penalties.

Hossam Hassan missed a penalty for Smouha, while Shilongo and Ahmed Said missed two penalties for Al-Assiouty, allowing Smouha to reach the Egyptian Cup final.



Smouha will face Zamalek on Tuesday, May 15 in a repeat to the 2014 final, when Zamalek went on to defeat Smouha 1-0 and achieve the title.

On the other hand, Zamalek reached the final defeating Zamalek 4-1 on Monday after a fine display.



Zamalek reached the Egyptian Cup final for the 39th time in their history, and Zamalek players hope to reconcile their fans after a disastrous season by achieving their 26th Cup title.