Al Masri secured a 3-2 victory over El Mokawloon in the Premier League's second round of the regular season on Thursday evening. The result moves the visitors up to fifth place with six points from three matches, while the hosts remain bottom of the table with zero points after two games. and here's the thing — the match was decided in the final ten minutes after both sides had traded blows throughout.
I. Niang opened the scoring for El Mokawloon in the thirty-fifth minute, giving the hosts a lead they would not hold for long. M. Hamada equalised for Al Masri just before the interval, and the momentum shifted. to be fair, the visitors had been creating more, with 0.9 expected goals compared to the hosts' 0.25, though El Mokawloon matched them in aerial duels at 41 each.
H. Faisal restored El Mokawloon's advantage early in the second half, but Al Masri refused to go away. O. Kamal brought the score level in the seventy-seventh minute, and M. El Shami struck the winner two minutes later after coming on as a substitute. The hosts made five changes in the second half, including bringing on I. Niang himself, but could not find an equaliser.
Al Masri registered seven shots on target to the hosts' four, and their 0.9 expected goals told a clearer story than the 2-1 half-time score suggested. El Mokawloon had 350 total passes against 364, but the visitors created one big chance while the hosts created none. by then, the match had already turned, and the statistics confirmed what anyone watching had seen.
The result leaves El Mokawloon winless after two matches, a difficult start for a club that has spent fifteen years building something different. Al Masri extend their unbeaten run to three games and sit comfortably in the top half. and here's the thing — this was not a match decided by possession or territory, but by who took their moments when it mattered.