ZED’s Mohamed Shawky says Zamalek win was about preparing players

ZED manager Mohamed Shawky said his main objective in the 3-0 victory over Zamalek in the Egypt Capital Cup was to give his players valuable preparation for their upcoming league and African Confederation Cup fixtures.

ZED opened their Group A campaign with a convincing win at Arab Contractors Stadium, with Marwan Hagig scoring once and Ahmed Atef adding the other two goals.

Speaking at his post-match news conference, Shawky said: “The main objective of today’s match was to prepare the players for the league and Confederation Cup matches in the coming period.”

Shawky also brought Hamdy Alaa back into action for the first time this season after he recovered from injury.

“I included Hamdy Alaa for the first time this season after his return from injury, in order to prepare him for the coming period,” he said.

The ZED manager had hoped to use more players during the match, but Alaa suffered an injury after being introduced.

“I wanted to involve a larger number of players, but Hamdy Alaa was injured,” Shawky added.

The result places ZED top of Group A with three points. The section also contains Zamalek, Wadi Degla, Al Ittihad Alexandria and Tala’ea El Gaish.

Al Ittihad Alexandria are due to play Wadi Degla on Thursday in the same round, while Tala’ea El Gaish do not have a fixture in the opening round.

ZED will now turn their attention to their next league match, against Arab Contractors in the sixth round on Monday, 12 October.

They will then face Tanzanian side Azam United in the first leg of the second preliminary round of the CAF Confederation Cup on Friday, 16 October.