Marked for Riga
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Nov 2029
6 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Match10 Nov 2029
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 7‑2 against Police Union, and it could have been more.
Squad12 Nov 2029
19 goals and a season average of 7.46. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
Riga says Smouha went back on their word
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market12 Nov 2029
Islam Hesham has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Smouha they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match10 Nov 2029
Nobody wants to play Smouha right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Words exchanged at Smouha
Khaled El Ghandour and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match10 Nov 2029
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Smouha and Police Union in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings12 Nov 2029
A performance of 9.90 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 Jun 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Abdelrahman Amer
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Smouha lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
Smouha had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AEK, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad18 Jun 2029
A falling-out at Smouha
Khaled El Ghandour and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
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Squad18 Jun 2029
A row about effort at Smouha
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Sherif was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
Koper have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Dec 2028
54 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al Gaish lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market25 Dec 2028
Islam Mohareb hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al Gaish can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad25 Dec 2028
A falling-out at Al Gaish
Emad Hamdi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match23 Dec 2028
0‑1 to Arab Contractors, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Mohamed El Sayed falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
“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.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match16 Sep 2028
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against El Dakhleya, and it could have been more.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Emad Hamdi 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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Al Gaish training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismaïl Ouro-Agoro 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.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Ali Hamdi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.19. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Walid Kahraba on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
No hiding place for Riga
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Riga, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
Karim Tarek asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
The plan did not have a place for Ziad El Teihy
Nobody at Al Gaish is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 May 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Al Gaish, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 May 2028
Karim Tarek 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 dugout1 May 2028
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Squad1 May 2028
A row about effort at Al Gaish
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Camacho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom1 May 2028
Wages eat 86% of everything Al Gaish earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout1 May 2028
No hiding place for Riga
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Riga, and the manager let it.
The dugout1 May 2028
Islam Mohareb knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al Gaish, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad1 May 2028
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Al Gaish would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The dugout1 May 2028
Omar Radwan gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Omar Radwan is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match4 Mar 2028
No end in sight to Al Gaish's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al Gaish has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ismaïl Ouro-Agoro and Al Gaish agree another 2 years.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words exchanged at Al Gaish
Emad Hamdi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad6 Mar 2028
Karim Tarek falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
A performance of 8.10 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match4 Mar 2028
Al Gaish caught on 90 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Ismaily scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Market6 Mar 2028
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Match4 Mar 2028
It needed Ghaith Al-Madadha to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Ismaily, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.