PHAROAHS TO BEAT THE CHIPOLOPOLO (Back Page)

Story: George Ernest Asare, Kumasi

Kumasi soccer fans will have another opportunity to watch yet another beautiful game at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium where the free-scoring Pharoahs of Egypt who have so far won their two group matches encounter the Chipolopolo of Zambia tomorrow.
The Zambians, like the Lions of Cameroun, have three points, having beaten the whipping boys of the group, The Sudan, 3-0 in their first match.
The Pharoahs, who have scored seven goals in the two matches played and conceded only two goals, look poised to add Zambia to their victims as a way of entrenching their top position in the group and send a signal to all opponents that they are in Ghana to defend the trophy they won two years ago when they hosted the tournament.
In their first game against the Lions of Cameroun, the Pharaohs surprised the partisan fans in Kumasi when strikers Hosny Abd Rabo Abdel Motaleb and Mohamed Abdalla Mohamed Zidan scored two goals apiece to give the Lions a bitter pill to swallow. Not even the presence of world-class soccer icon, Samuel Eto’o Fils, who scored two goals for his side, could threaten the Pharoahs who were in a class of their own.
In their second match against The Sudan, which was described as the re-enactment of the Nile rivalry at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium last Saturday, the Pharoahs again survived the initial scare posed by the Sudanese and succeeded in running away with a 3-0 victory.
The goals, which came from Abdel Motaleb through a spot kick and substitute Mohamed Mohamed M. Abou Traika, indicated that the Pharoahs had a wide range of potent attackers who, on any good day, could cause a lot of havoc, especially when it comes to competitions of such high profile as Africa’s top soccer fiesta.
Notwithstanding the good tournament the Pharoahs have enjoyed so far, tomorrow’s match against the Zambians will be very thrilling, especially considering the fact that the Zambians who have three points and occupy the third spot in Group ‘C’, also stand the chance of qualifying if they succeed in defeating the Pharoahs.
This could be deduced from the fact that during the second group match between Egypt and The Sudan, the defenders of the Pharoahs were exposed in the early part of the game and it was only the agility of goalkeeper Esam Kamal Tawfik El Hadary which made it possible for Egypt to avoid conceding any goal to keep their aspiration of defending the trophy alive.
However, against Zambia tomorrow the situation may be different because the Zambians, who played a good game against Cameroun last Saturday but could not convert the chances that came their way, have put the past behind them and are eager to carry the game to their opponents to brighten their chances of getting to the next stage of the competition.
With players like James Chamanga, who won the best player award in their game against the Lions of Cameron, Felix Katongo who also displayed a lot of skills, and skipper Christopher Katango, on hand, Zambia could cause havoc if Egypt underrate them.
The other group match between Cameroun and The Sudan, which will be played at the Tamale Sports Stadium, will also be very dicey, but the determination of Cameroun gives them the upper hand to carry the day.