Brazilian forward Bruno Savio gave Al Ahly the lead six minutes before the break when he made the most of a dreadful blunder from Zamalek’s Zakaria El Wardi to curl the ball home from the edge of the area.
Zamalek improved in the second half and wasted a couple of goal-scoring chances but Ahly ensured the win in stoppage time when substitute Karim Fouad finished off a fine team move with a simple tap-in at the far post.
Ahly denied Zamalek, who won the Egyptian league and cup double in the 2020-21 season, the chance to make it a hat-trick of domestic trophies.
They also made up for a bitter 2-1 loss to Zamalek in the Egypt Cup final last July.
Ahly extended their Super Cup record to 12 titles, six of which came at the expense of perennial Cairo rivals Zamalek.
“We have been here for a few weeks but we are improving day by day,” Swiss boss Koller told OnTime Sport in a pitch-side interview.
“Some players still need to improve aspects of their game, such as how they keep the ball under their control, but I’m sure we will get better. We still have much work to do.”
Koller took over in the summer following the sacking of Portuguese Ricardo Soares, leading them to five wins in all competitions — two in the Egyptian league, two in the African Champions League and one in the Super Cup.
They have not conceded a single goal during that run as Koller looks to have found the perfect partnership in defence, with Mahmoud Metwalli and Mohamed Abdel-Moneim proving rock-solid at the back.
Koller said he has not altered his strategy against Zamalek, saying he adopts the same system regardless of the identity of his opponents.
“I always try to impose my own style on our opponents, but we studied Zamalek well. My focus is always on the way we play, not the way our opponent plays,” he added.
