Zidan was a star player in Mainz, scoring 13 goals in 15 games. His efforts were not enough to keep the club alive in the Budesliga. Zidan moved to Mainz from Werder Bremen for 2.5 million Euro earlier this year.

Zidan was recently voted as the third best player in the Budesliga by Bild Magazine.

The former Ahly striker most recently played for Tersana after transfering there from Al-Masry. Hassan dismisses rumors that he leaves Tersana due to conflict and says that he decided to move to Ittehad to experience something new.

Ittehad’s vice president Mohamed Meselhi expressed his happiness with the transfer.

This Egyptian Premier League week 29 victory was critical for Zamalek who are in the race for second place with Ismaily. Al-Ahly on the other hand had already secured the league title this year with 73 points before coming into the match.

It was also critical for Zamalek on the phsycological front. This is Zamalek’s first victory over Al-Ahly in 3 years. They last defeated Al-Ahly 2-1 in May of 2004.

Zamalek, who were by far the better side, were in control of the entire two halves of the game. Tamer Abdel-Hamid scored first in the 42nd minute from a cross by Zamalek’s rising star, Mahmoud Abdel-Razek “Shikabala”. Gamal Hamza scored the second goal from a spectacular header in the 62nd minute.

The two teams put up a mediocre performance in the first half, each afraid of conceding an early goal that could change the momentum of the game seal their fate early on. Ismaily stepped up the pressure in the second half despite having the advantage of coming into this match with a 1-0 upset over Wedad in their first-leg match.

The pressure, along with a few key substitutions (Mohamed Fadl, Ahmed Khalifa and Ahmed Abdel-Wahid) resulted in the first goal in the 31st minute by Ahmed Samir Farag. After the goal, Al-Wedad loosened up on the defensive side which provided more opportunities for the Ismaily offence. The continued pressure from Ismaily resulted in the second goal by Mohamed Abdel-Wahid in the 3rd minute of injury time.

Zamalek pressured Ittehad throughout the match. The pressure resulted in the only goal of the game scored by Hazem Emam in the 28th minute of the first half. Ittehad shrunk back into their own third in the second half, relying fruitlessly on counter-attacks. Ittehad’s goalkeeper and defensive line saved their team from a larger score difference.

Ittehad has 30 points.

The only change to the top 10 saw Brazil replacing Argentina for second place. Italy remain first and Argentina is now third.

Africa Top 10

1. Cameroon
2. Cote d’Ivoire
3. Nigeria
4. Ghana
5. Egypt
6. Senegal
7. Mali
8. Tunisia
9. Morocco
10.Guinea

Middle Eastern/Arabian Top 10

1. Turkey
2. Israel
3. Egypt
4. Iran
5. Tunisia
6. Morocco
7. Saudi Arabia
8. Algeria
9. Oman
10.Iraq

Ismaily upset Wedad in Casablanca 1-0 in their first-leg match making Wedad’s task much more difficult in Ismailia. Ismaily head coach Patric Neveu stated that coming into the second-leg match with 1-0 victory is not a guarantee to advance to the next round. There are still 90 minute in which Ismaily has to perform well, said Neveu.

Wedad arrived in Ismailia on Tuesday.

Shady Mohamed scored the first goal from a penalty kick in the 23rd minute of the first half and Emad El-Nahas scored the second in the 35th minute of the second half from a header.

Al-Ahly now has 70 points followed by Ismaily with 61 points and Zamalek with 59 points. Both Ismaily and Zamalek are still fighting for the second place position which will give the team that claims it access to participate in African competitions.

Hassan, who is dubbed as “The Pharaoh of Brussels” by Anderlecht fans, became the first Egyptian to win a title with a European club. He stated that he feels he can stay for another season with his club before he makes the decision to move back to Egypt.

Speculation began a few months ago about Hassan’s intentions to return to Egypt and questions surfaced about which club he would choose to return to.

Ismaily has agreed to the concept and is currently looking at how to fit the match in their schedule between the Egyptian Cup and the African Confederation Cup. Ismaily had played against Ajax Amsterdam in July of 1996 when they were in Holland in a training session. The game ended 6-1 for Ajax.