Jorvan Vieira's team is preparing for the new Egyptian Premier League season Cairo – Hesham Chahine Egyptian team Zamalek beat Russian side Zenit St Petersburg 1-0 in a friendly match on Saturday. Fullback Ahmed Samir scored the winning goal, 10 minutes before the end of the first half in Abu Dhabi. Victory for Jorvan Vieira's men secured second-place in the friendly tournament, which also featured Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk.
The Whites were under pressure early on, as Zenit pushed forward with their flair players creating several opportunities. Brazilian striker Hulk fired an effort wide of Zamalek goalkeeper Abdel Wahed el-Sayed's left-sided post, before Aleksandr Bukharov forced El-Sayed into a fine one-handed save.
Midway through the half, Zamalek players started to take control of the game and midfielder Omar Gaber found the first real opening, only to see his shot well saved. In the 25th minute, Samir found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper after a through-pass from Mohammed Ibrahim. However, the defender fell in the box and was booked for diving.
Samir was not to be denied, and in the 35th minute, he slid in to score after a low cross from Gaber, to complete a cleverly worked set-piece routine.
Egyptian striker Ahmed Gaafar nearly scored a second goal for Zamalek, but his powerful shot late in the first half struck the crossbar.
In the second half, Zenit showed some intent as they looked to get back into the game. Hulk, a danger throughout the game, missed a few good chances to draw Zenit level. First, his left-footed shot fizzled past the post. Then, in the 64th minute, his superb volley was saved by el-Sayed, only for the ball to rebound back to the Brazilian, but the follow up effort was parried out by the Egyptian goalkeeper.
At the other end, Zamalek struggled to muster any clear-cut opportunities with the team relying on Ibrahim's skill, Gaber's speed and Gaafar's strength to counter-attack.
Defensively, the Egyptian outfit held their line to see out the two minutes of injury time and claim a confidence-boosting win.