Zamalek coach: “I would aim to beat Kaizer Chiefs regardless of their result against Al Masry”

Zamalek head coach Moatamed Gamal confirmed that his team will push for victory in the final group-stage match in order to qualify as group leaders in the CAF Confederation Cup, despite the recent setback against ZESCO United.

Zamalek suffered a 1-0 defeat away to ZESCO of Zambia in the fifth and penultimate round of the group stage, a result that reignited competition within the group.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Moataz Gamal said:

“The match was extremely difficult. ZESCO is a very good team. We were missing several players due to injuries, but we did not want to talk about these absences before the game.
I thank the players for giving their maximum effort — no one held anything back.
Our chances in the competition are still alive, and God willing, we will finish the group stage in first place.”

Commenting on the defeat against ZESCO, who had failed to win any match before this round, Gamal added:

“I previously said that ZESCO is a good team, but they were unlucky. I believe luck was on their side today.
There were phases in the match where we lacked luck. I know they are a good team, and we had numerical shortcomings that we tried to deal with. We hoped things would go our way, but they didn’t.
We will work hard, forget today’s match, and focus on the final group-stage game, which is the most important one for achieving our goal.”

When asked whether the defeat puts Zamalek’s qualification at risk, the coach responded:

“I do not look at any team in the group except the one I am facing. Over the past two days, my calculations were focused solely on ZESCO. I was not thinking about possible results of other teams.
Regardless of the result of the match between Al Masry and Kaizer Chiefs, I would still aim to win the final match against Kaizer Chiefs because we want to qualify as group leaders.”

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