Bourj FC lost on penalties to Ansar in the Lebanese FA Cup semifinals

Ansar - Bourj 0-0, 3-2 on penalties

Penalties transformed by: Majed Othman, Hassan Maatouk and Hussein Al Dur (Ansar), Mohamad Kassem and Samih Damaj (Bourj). Jihad Ayoub (Ansar), Akram Moghrabi, Abou Baker Al Mel and Youssef Atriss (Bourj) missed.

Sunday, 27 February 2022, 4:45 pm local time (2:45 pm UTC), Fouad Chehab Stadium, Jounieh, Lebanon, the Lebanese FA Cup semifinal.

Bourj FC starting XI. Source: Bourj FC Facebook page

After a long break in the Lebanese football league, caused by several events, and mostly due to the ongoing dispute between Al Ahed and Nejmeh regarding their head-to-head match, the Lebanese football officially came back with the matches for the FA Cup semifinals. In the first semifinal, Nejmeh won 1-0 over Hikma / La Sagesse and reached therefore the final.

In the second semifinal, on Sunday, Ansar and Bourj offered a very tough and balanced game. The fans in the stands put up a great show, as they were allowed there after a very long time. Unfortunately, the show in the stands was better than the one in the field, where the two teams annihilated each other.

The result was a very tactical match, in which each team tried to capitalize its values at the expense of the opponent, but with very little success. In the first half, the two teams shared an almost equal number of opportunities.

However, in the second half, Ansar pushed harder to get the winning goal, but they were unable to unlock Bourj defense. Bourj responded mostly on counterattacks, but their strength decreased towards the end. The game was also fragmented, and a number of players received yellow cards for fouls or protests. Mohamad El Faour received the second yellow card (90') and left Bourj in ten men for the seven minutes of stoppage time. Ansar tried to take advantage of the situation and intensified their attacks, they even had a dangerous free kick, but could not score.

The game ended 0-0, and no extra time was played, the two teams went straight to penalties. Bourj FC started well, as Mohamad Kassem score the first penalty, while Jihad Ayoub (Ansar) missed. However, the situation changed completely, as the next two penalties were missed by the Bourj players (Akram Moghrabi and Abou Baker Al Mel), while Ansar players scored and reversed the situation in Ansar favour. Samih Damaj scored the fourth penalty for Bourj, giving them a certain hope, but Hussein Al Dur (Ansar) also scored, keeping Ansar in advantage, 3-2, before the last series. Youssef Atriss missed for Bourj and therefore Ansar did not need to execute the fifth penalty: they already won.

Ansar (in green) qualified again for the Lebanese FA Cup final. Source: elmaestrosport.com

Ansar: Nazih Assad - Nassar Nassar, Hussein Al Dur, Khaled Al Ali, Hassan Shaito "Shibriko", Jihad Ayoub, Ali Tneich "Al Sisi" (Hamza Hussein 78'), Nader Matar (Majid Othman 46'), Fayez Shamsin (Ahmed Hegazy 46'), Karim Darwish, Hassan Maatouk.

Bourj: Hassan Moghnieh - Muhamad El Dor (Samih Damaj 90'+7'), Khodor Hallak, Shadi Skaf, Youssef Anbar (Hassan Bitar 87') - Hussein Ibrahim (Mohamad Kassem 90'+7'), Mohamad El Faour - Abou Baker Al Mel, Abbas Ali Atwi "Onika" (Youssef Atriss 80'), Ali Merkabaoui (Mohamad Sadek 80') - Akram Moghrabi. Manager: Fouad Hijazi.

Referee: Muhammad Issa.

Yellow cards: Ali Tneich "Al Sisi" 62' - Hussein Tahan (Bourj assistant manager) 57', Hussein Ibrahim 59', Abbas Ali Atwi "Onika" 67', Mohamad El Faour 78', 90'.

Red card: Mohamad El Faour 90' (for the second yellow card).

Bourj missed the opportunity to reach the FA Cup final after 29 years, while Ansar successfully defended their last year cup so far, and they will have to do it one more time, in the final against their traditional opponents, Nejmeh. Both teams are very interested in the FA Cup this year, since the title seems to be impossible to attain.

Second consecutive defeat for Fayoum SC

Fayoum SC - Aluminium Nag Hammâdi 0-1 (0-1) 

Fawzi Shaaban 28'.

Saturday, 19 February 2022, 3 pm local time (1 pm UTC), Alassiouty Sport Resort, Fayoum, Egypt, 19th round of the Egyptian Second Division, Group A.

The important changes made to the roster of Fayoum SC have some unexpected consequences. After two wins, the team has recently registered two consecutive defeats - one away, last week, 2-1 to Al Madina Al Monawara in Luxor, and one at home, 1-0 to Aluminium Nag Hammâdi. In both cases, Fayoum SC dominated most of the game, but the final result was in favour of their opponents. 

In the last game, against Aluminium, the first half was rather balanced, both teams missing a good number of opportunities. The visitors were more efficient and scored by means of Fawzi Shaaban, who just pushed the ball in from inside the box: 0-1 (28').

After the goal, Fayoum took full control of the game, and attacked permanently, while Aluminium responded on counterattacks. Fayoum intensified their attacks in the second half, reaching frequently to the opposite goal, but there was nobody there to score the equalizer, not even in an empty net (75'). It seems that the departure of some excellent attacking players during the transfer window left some holes in Fayoum's offensive compartment.

The visitors succeeded to defend their minimal advantage right until the end, and climbed into fourth place, while Fayoum are now in sixth place, and they will travel to second place KIMA Aswan the next week-end.

Full results, table and fixtures:

 

Round 19 (19-20 February 2022)

 

Aswan – Telephonat 2-0

Fayoum – Aluminium 0-1

Asyut Petroleum – Sohag 1-1

Beni Suef – El Minya 2-1

Naser Mallawi – Media 1-1

Qena – Al Madina Al Monawara 1-1

Tamya – El Badari 3-1

Dayrout – KIMA Aswan 1-3

 

Table

 

1	Aswan	19	13	4	2	29-12	43	Promotion to the Premier League
2	KIMA Aswan	19	10	6	3	28-17	36
3	El Minya	19	10	5	4	30-16	35
4	Aluminium	19	9	7	3	27-15	34
5	Asyut Petroleum	19	8	9	2	27-11	33
6	Fayoum	19	8	5	6	17-19	29
7	Al Madina Al Monawara	19	7	5	7	23-19	26
8	Tamya	19	7	5	7	23-20	26
9	Beni Suef	19	5	8	6	20-21	23
10	Media	19	5	7	7	12-21	22
11	Sohag	19	4	9	6	15-17	21
12	Dayrout	19	5	6	8	15-25	21
13	Telephonat	19	4	6	9	13-21	18	Relegation to the Third Division
14	Naser Mallawi	19	3	8	8	15-23	17	Relegation to the Third Division
15	Qena	19	3	6	10	18-30	15	Relegation to the Third Division
16	El Badari	19	2	2	15	12-37	8	Relegation to the Third Division

 

Round 20 (26-27 February 2022)

 

Telephonat – Tamya

Sohag – Naser Mallawi

Qena – Aswan

Al Madina Al Monawara – Aluminium

KIMA Aswan – Fayoum

El Minya – Asyut Petroleum

Media – Dayrout

El Badari – Beni Suef

Another 1-0 win for Fayoum SC, away at Dayrout

Dayrout - Fayoum 0-1 (0-0)

Mohamed Tariq 80'.

Sunday, 6 February 2022, 2:30 pm local time (12:30 pm UTC), Asyut Petroleum Stadium, Asyut, Egypt, the 17th round of the Egyptian Second Division, Group A.

Fayoum SC recorded yet another 1-0 win, this time away at Dayrout, after a very strong and balanced match, in which both teams had their chances, but Mohamed Tariq made the difference 10 minutes before the end for Fayoum.

After many problems regarding their squad, the visitors succeeded to transfer 11 players at the end of the winter transfer period, therefore solving the issue regarding the availability of players, which was quite obvious in their previous matches.

Manager Saeed Sobhi had a very difficult task to integrate the newcomers into the already existing group of players, which has performed so well in the first half of the season. Many of the newcomers actually took the spots of players who transferred out to other teams.

Fayoum SC starting XI. Source: Fayoum SC Facebook page

In the first half, Fayoum had the upper hand, but newly-arrived "Benzema" (from KIMA Aswan) missed a couple of good opportunities for the visitors.

In the second half, both teams made several changes, trying to decide the match in their favour. Nevertheless, it was Fayoum which eventually broke the deadlock, by means of another newcomer, Mohamed Tariq.

Dayrout desperately tried to equalize, but they did not succeed, therefore Fayoum won 1-0. This is their eight win in the season, and 7 out of 8 wins were by 1-0, and the other one 2-1, so all Fayoum wins in this season were by the smallest margin possible. More than that, the wins are spread equally, 4 of them at home, and 4 away, making Fayoum one of the best teams away from home.

This result maintains Fayoum in fifth place in the table, but they are now just three points away from the second place El Minya and third place KIMA Aswan, which both lost the derbies against Aswan SC and Asyut Petroleum respectively.

In contrast, Dayrout dropped into ninth place and they are getting dangerously close to the relegation area.

In the next round, both teams will play away, Fayoum at Luxor, against Al Madina Al Monawara, while Dayrout will play at Nag Hammadi, against Aluminium.

Full results, table and fixtures:

Round 17 (5-6 February 2022)

 

Naser Mallawi – Aluminium 1-2

Tamya – Sohag 2-1

Aswan – El Minya 2-1

Beni Suef – Media 0-0

Telephonat – Al Madina Al Monawara 2-0

Asyut Petroleum – KIMA Aswan 3-1

Qena – El Badari 1-0

Dayrout – Fayoum 0-1

 

Table

 

1	Aswan	17	11	4	2	25-12	37	Promotion to the Premier League
2	El Minya	17	9	5	3	26-12	32
3	KIMA Aswan	17	9	5	3	24-15	32
4	Asyut Petroleum	17	8	7	2	26-10	31
5	Fayoum	17	8	5	4	16-16	29
6	Aluminium	17	7	7	3	24-15	28
7	Tamya	17	6	5	6	18-16	23
8	Al Madina Al Monawara	17	6	4	7	20-17	22
9	Dayrout	17	5	6	6	14-20	21
10	Media	17	5	5	7	11-20	20
11	Beni Suef	17	4	7	6	17-19	19
12	Sohag	17	4	7	6	13-15	19
13	Telephonat	17	4	5	8	12-18	17	Relegation to the Third Division
14	Naser Mallawi	17	3	6	8	13-21	15	Relegation to the Third Division
15	Qena	17	3	4	10	16-28	13	Relegation to the Third Division
16	El Badari	17	2	2	13	11-32	8	Relegation to the Third Division

 

Round 18 (12-13 February 2022)

 

KIMA Aswan – Naser Mallawi

Al Madina Al Monawara – Fayoum

Telephonat – Qena

El Minya – Tamya

Sohag – Beni Suef

Aluminium – Dayrout

El Badari – Aswan

Media – Asyut Petroleum