Eastern Company ENPPI question Al Ahly penalty after late Egyptian Premier League defeat

Eastern Company ENPPI director of football Mohamed Ismail said the penalty awarded to Al Ahly in their Egyptian Premier League match was “highly questionable”, while praising his side’s performance despite losing 3-2 in the final stages.

Al Ahly opened their league campaign with victory over Eastern Company ENPPI, recovering from a two-goal deficit before sealing all three points. The result was Al Ahly’s second consecutive win against ENPPI after going five matches without beating their opponents in all competitions.

Speaking on Modern Sport, Ismail said Eastern Company ENPPI had made an encouraging start under manager Mohamed Barakat, even though the team was ultimately beaten by the reigning Egyptian football giants.

“I see Eastern Company ENPPI’s start to the league season as very successful for the team and the coaching staff led by Mohamed Barakat, despite losing in the dying moments, especially against Al Ahly after their reinforcements,” he said.

“We deserved at least a point from the match, but we can build on this in the future.”

Ismail also highlighted the club’s continued reliance on young players, pointing to 21-year-old Mohamed Essam as an example of that policy during the match.

“What distinguishes the team is its continued reliance on young players, and we saw Mohamed Essam, who is 21 years old, in the game,” he said.

The director of football admitted that he had expected Al Ahly to struggle at the start of the season after watching their meeting with Barcelona. He said that performance had led him to believe their opening league match might not go as smoothly as some observers expected.

“To be honest, I was very optimistic after Al Ahly’s match against Barcelona, and I expected Al Ahly’s start to the season not to be good, as some people predicted. That is what happened,” Ismail said.

He suggested that Eastern Company ENPPI’s second-half display was affected by the team’s attempts to protect its lead and secure the three points.

“I think Eastern Company ENPPI dropped back in the second half because of their attempts to preserve the win and the three points, but football is always like that: when you focus on drawing, you lose,” he added.

The penalty decision remained a particular source of frustration for Ismail. He said Al Ahly forward Ashraf Bencharki was an experienced player who knew how to win fouls, but stopped short of making a wider criticism of the officials.

“The penalty was highly questionable, and Bencharki is a great player who knows how to draw fouls, but I do not want to talk about refereeing. I thought it deserved a more thorough review, but I do not want to go into this matter further so that it is not said that we are attacking the referees,” he said.

The victory was also significant for Al Ahly manager Hussein Ammouta, whose first match in charge saw his side come from two goals behind and join the leading group in the Egyptian Premier League.

Al Ahly will look to maintain their winning start when they face ZED FC on Friday in the second round of the league. Eastern Company ENPPI will also play on Friday, hosting Wadi Degla.