Zamalek begin pre-season with 3-0 friendly victory over El Plastico

Zamalek opened their pre-season programme with a 3-0 win over El Plastico at Al-Nadi Club Stadium in Egypt’s New Administrative Capital on Tuesday.

Oday Dabbagh gave Zamalek the lead before half-time, while Mahmoud Bentayg and Hossam Ashraf added further goals after the interval.

Zamalek will play Orange in their next friendly on Thursday, also at Al-Nadi Club Stadium, before completing their preparations against Modern Sport on Sunday, 16 August. That match will take place at the Cairo Stadium’s supplementary pitch.

The Egyptian champions will begin their league title defence against Al Ittihad Alexandria on Friday, 21 August.

Moataz Gamal’s side controlled much of the opening period against El Plastico and created the first significant opportunities. Adam Kaied’s effort in the fourth minute struck a defender and went behind for a corner, while Ahmed Khodary missed a chance to put Zamalek ahead three minutes later after going clear and shooting wide of the goalkeeper’s left-hand post.

El Plastico also attempted to threaten, although their attacks did not seriously test Zamalek goalkeeper Mehdi Soliman.

Omar Gaber delivered a cross in the 25th minute which Dabbagh met with a header, but the effort went over the crossbar. Zamalek finally made their pressure count 12 minutes later when Dabbagh raced through on goal and placed his shot to the goalkeeper’s right.

The visitors continued to look for a second goal before the break, but went into half-time 1-0 ahead.

Zamalek changed their entire line-up at the start of the second half. Mohamed Awad replaced Soliman in goal, with Bentayg, Mustafa El-Zenari, Ahmed Hossam and Mohamed Ibrahim forming the defence.

Mahmoud Gihad, Mohamed El-Sayed, Youssef Wael and Ahmed Abd El-Rahim Esho operated in midfield, while Hossam Ashraf and Mohamed Hamdy led the attack.

The second goal arrived three minutes after the restart. Bentayg collected the ball inside the El Plastico penalty area and fired a shot into the bottom-left corner.

Awad then made an important save in the 52nd minute to deny El Plastico a possible reply. Zamalek almost extended their advantage when El-Zenari’s header was cleared by the defence, before Ashraf’s powerful follow-up was also blocked and diverted for a corner.

Mohamed El-Sayed crossed for Hamdy in the 60th minute, but the forward headed over the bar. El Plastico’s goalkeeper then kept out a shot from Ashraf six minutes later.

Ashraf eventually got on the scoresheet in the 73rd minute, sending a powerful effort into the goalkeeper’s bottom-left corner to complete Zamalek’s scoring.

The Egyptian champions continued to push for another goal during the closing stages, while El Plastico tried to reduce the deficit, but neither side found the net again.

Gamal’s coaching staff have arranged three friendlies as part of Zamalek’s preparations for the new season, with the matches intended to give the full squad playing time before the competitive campaign begins.

Zamalek will start the defence of their league title against Al Ittihad Alexandria and will finish the first round of the competition against El Qanah. They are scheduled to play 12 first-round matches at Cairo Stadium.

The Egyptian Premier League is due to begin on 21 August, with the first round scheduled to finish on 20 February. The second phase is set to start on 8 March and conclude on 28 May, provided the May schedule is not altered because of the finals of continental competitions, as outlined by Taha Ezzat, chairman of the competitions committee.

Zamalek’s first-half line-up: Mehdi Soliman; Ahmed Fattouh, Mahmoud Hamdy El Wensh, Mohamed Ismail, Omar Gaber; Mohamed Shehata, Ahmed Rabie, Ahmed Khodary; Adam Kaied, Oday Dabbagh, Ahmed Sherif.

Zamalek’s second-half line-up: Mohamed Awad; Mahmoud Bentayg, Mustafa El-Zenari, Ahmed Hossam, Mohamed Ibrahim; Mahmoud Gihad, Mohamed El-Sayed, Youssef Wael, Ahmed Abd El-Rahim Esho; Hossam Ashraf, Mohamed Hamdy.