2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Police Union the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Ittihad will enjoy reviewing.
Two goals and a mark of 8.50 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Ittihad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Okechukwu Azubuike is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Mahamoud Metwaly was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Zamalek left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Ittihad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Okechukwu Azubuike is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Mahamoud Metwaly was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Ittihad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Okechukwu Azubuike is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Ittihad training over how hard people work
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ittihad have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Ittihad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Okechukwu Azubuike is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It finished 2‑1, and it was John Okoye Ebuka’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ittihad.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Afsha is still paying for one afternoon at Ittihad
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.94 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Mahamoud Metwaly was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
95 minutes played. Afsha found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and El Masry went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 3‑2 win over El Masry, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Ittihad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Canaria is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ittihad can pretend not to have heard.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Sobhy Soliman reports back to Ittihad with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Mahamoud Metwaly was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Isaac Success
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Isaac Success has come out of that comparison in the side, and Ittihad have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ittihad can pretend not to have heard.
Mahamoud Metwaly was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Add another name to the list: El Dakhleya have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Nasser Nasser. The answer from Ittihad has not changed — yet.
The offer from Al Ahly for Mabululu was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Ittihad will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The phone has started ringing about Ahmed Menshawi again, and this time the name on the line is Smouha. Ittihad are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Ittihad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Tony is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Mahmoud Alaa was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Canaria trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.