Zamalek Maintain Perfect CAF Cup Record

Zamalek’s starting eleven pose for a group picture during the Lusail Super Cup football match at the Lusail Stadium on the outskirts of Qatar’s capital Doha on September 9, 2022. (File: AFP)
Zamalek’s starting eleven pose for a group picture during the Lusail Super Cup football match at the Lusail Stadium on the outskirts of Qatar’s capital Doha on September 9, 2022. (File: AFP)
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Zamalek Maintain Perfect CAF Cup Record

Zamalek’s starting eleven pose for a group picture during the Lusail Super Cup football match at the Lusail Stadium on the outskirts of Qatar’s capital Doha on September 9, 2022. (File: AFP)
Zamalek’s starting eleven pose for a group picture during the Lusail Super Cup football match at the Lusail Stadium on the outskirts of Qatar’s capital Doha on September 9, 2022. (File: AFP)

Ahmed 'Zizo' Sayed scored as Zamalek of Egypt maintained a perfect CAF Confederation Cup group record with a 1-0 win over Esperanca Sagrada of Angola in Alexandria on Saturday.

The 27-year-old winger struck on 42 minutes with a low shot across Congolese goalkeeper Nathan Keletshum and into the far corner of the net.

After a tougher than expected Group B win over the Angolan outfit, Zamalek have nine points, Salim and Esperanca three each and SOAR none, AFP reported.

Confederation Cup debutants Salim do not have an international-standard home ground so they will host Academie on Sunday in the Algerian city of Annaba.

Group winners and runners-up qualify for the quarter-finals of a competition whose 14 previous title-holders include Zamalek in 2019.



‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
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‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)

The Paris Olympics look likely to get off to a soggy start.

Meteo-France, the French weather service, is predicting “flooding rains” Friday evening when the opening ceremony is set to unroll along the Seine River. But the show is set to go on as planned, starting at 1:30 p.m. EDT/7:30 p.m. CEST and should last more than three hours.

Already in the late afternoon, skies were gray with intermittent drizzle. There was a silver lining, though, with temperatures expected to stay relatively warm throughout the evening.

Instead of a traditional march into a stadium, about 6,800 athletes will parade on more than 90 boats on the Seine River for 6 kilometers (3.7 miles). Though 10,700 athletes are expected to compete at these Olympics, hundreds of soccer players are based outside Paris, surfers are in Tahiti and many have yet to arrive for their events in the second week, organizers said Thursday.

Hundreds of thousands of people, including 320,000 paying and invited ticket-holders, are expected to line the Seine’s banks as athletes are paraded along the river on boats.