Marciniak’s first match after M¦. It was a hit. The hawk’s eye of the Pole

The match in Egypt was Szymon Marciniak’s first match after the World Cup in Qatar, where the Polish referee did a fantastic job, also in the grand final, in which Argentina defeated France on penalties (3:3, 4:2 on penalties). No wonder that Marciniak is the main candidate for the title of the best judge in the world in 2022.

On Monday evening, Marciniak led the hit of the Egyptian league, in which the second in the table Al Ahly took the fourth Pyramids FC. Interestingly, such a solution was possible thanks to a special provision in the law of the Egyptian federation, which allows the invitation of a foreign referee to a league match, provided that one of the clubs fully pays for such a move. This was also done by the guests, who wanted to get closer to the leader by one point with a victory on Monday.

Marciniak’s quiet evening in Egypt. One controversy, one yellow card in a hit

Szymon Marciniak in Egypt managed without his assistants – Paweł Sokolnicki and Tomasz Listkiewicz. The linesmen were Radosław Siejka and Adam Kupsik, while at VAR, instead of Tomasz Kwiatkowski, Tomasz Musiał was watching, and his assistant was Szymon Marciniak’s brother – Tomasz.

The match between Al Ahly and Pyramids was not too demanding for Marciniak, who had an exceptionally quiet evening in Cairo. The only minor controversy came in the 60th minute, when Pyramids defender Ahmed Sami was hit in the hand with the ball from close range, but Marciniak proved he had a hawk’s eye. He quickly cut short the hosts’ protests demanding a penalty kick. It was difficult to talk about a misdemeanor in this situation, especially since the ball had previously bounced off the guest player’s stomach, and the hand did not unnaturally enlarge the outline of the body.

Marciniak showed the first and only yellow card only in the 64th minute, when Mohamed Chibi from the Pyramids team attacked his rival with a late slide.

The hero of this match was not the Polish referee, but the experienced midfielder of Al Ahly – Amr El Solia. It was him who, in the 19th minute, opened the score with a powerful strike from a distance, and then in the second half, in the 69th minute, after a header after a corner kick, he increased it to 2:0.

The third goal for the hosts came in added time, and it was an own goal by Ahmed Sami, who so unfortunately blocked the opponent’s cross from the right wing that he surprised his own goalkeeper.

After a 3-0 victory, Al Ahly took the lead in the Egyptian league table with 27 points. Pyramids FC with 20 points remains in fourth place.