Regular Season - 3
Vaadi Degla and Olympique El-Kanah played out a 0:0 draw in the Egyptian Premier League on Tuesday evening. Both sides had already collected four points from their opening two fixtures, and neither was willing to risk much. To be fair, the match had all the hallmarks of a cautious opening period — neither side wanted to start the season with a loss.
The first real moment came when H. Hassan stepped up for a penalty in the 65th minute. He struck it, but it was saved. The incident went to review — or rather, it didn't, because the referee had already pointed to the spot. Vaadi had created one big chance all afternoon, and it was thrown away. By then the game had settled into a rhythm neither team wanted to break.
There were yellow cards in abundance. A. Ayman went off the pitch in the 22nd minute, H. Hassan followed in the 38th, M. Abdelaati in the 45th, and both M. Shaaban and O. Adly collected them as the clock ticked towards full time. Substitutions came in waves — M. Diab and A. Reda on together in the 46th, M. Wayo and H. A. Sattar in the 57th, and then another pair in the 75th. The old head settled them down, perhaps, but not enough to find a breakthrough.
Vaadi dominated possession at 69 per cent to 31, but dominance without conversion is just noise. They registered 11 attacks compared to eight for the visitors, and their expected goals stood at 2.5 to 0.86. Three shots on target for each side, but only one of Vaadi's shots accuracy came off target — eight of them, in fact. They created chances, but chances went begging when it mattered.
Both teams remain level on points after two matches. Vaadi sit sixth, Olympique El-Kanah eighth, and the table goes out of the window in these games. What matters is that neither side has lost yet, and neither side has proven they can take points away from a stubborn opponent.
