Marked for Abdo Semida
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout19 Nov 2029
Hossam Hassan: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” El Dakhleya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match17 Nov 2029
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Mohamed Hamed 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.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words at El Dakhleya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sherif Dabo 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.
Match17 Nov 2029
Three points for El Dakhleya, 2‑0 the final word against ENPPI in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings19 Nov 2029
Marked 8.66 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings19 Nov 2029
Marked 8.35 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mosaad Awad, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match20 Oct 2029
16 matches without a win for El Dakhleya
The run now stands at 16, and the questions being asked around El Dakhleya are no longer polite ones.
Market22 Oct 2029
“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 The request is on a desk at El Dakhleya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Mohamed Hamed 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.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Osayi Ejuke is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Words at El Dakhleya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sherif Dabo 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.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
Tasiu Lawal gets it from the manager
“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 dugout22 Oct 2029
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Player ratings22 Oct 2029
15 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Oct 2029
No end in sight to El Dakhleya's wait for a win
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at El Dakhleya has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces8 Oct 2029
The mood at El Dakhleya has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market8 Oct 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at El Dakhleya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market8 Oct 2029
“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 El Dakhleya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings8 Oct 2029
Abdo Semida goes up and wins it — 7.99
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.99 for the rest of it.
Squad8 Oct 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mohamed Hamed commits to El Dakhleya for another 2 years.
Squad8 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El Dakhleya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Sherif Dabo 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom23 Jul 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at El Dakhleya
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market23 Jul 2029
“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 El Dakhleya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
The clubs have shaken hands with Military Production; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Sherif Dabo in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El Dakhleya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Jul 2029
At 25 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
Al Ahly wanted more than $50.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Tasiu Lawal 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 dugout23 Jul 2029
Hossam Hassan 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 Hossam Hassan is on it.
Market23 Jul 2029
2 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs El Dakhleya money.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom28 May 2029
Pressure builds in the El Dakhleya boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad28 May 2029
Sherif Dabo 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.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at El Dakhleya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdo Semida 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.
The dugout28 May 2029
“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 dugout28 May 2029
Mosaad Awad knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mosaad Awad trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market28 May 2029
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at El Dakhleya has been clear about where Mostafa Abdelwahab stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces21 May 2029
The mood at El Dakhleya has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match21 May 2029
El Dakhleya are in real trouble now
Position 16, 26 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market21 May 2029
“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 El Dakhleya, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout21 May 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad21 May 2029
Mohamed Hamed 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.
Squad21 May 2029
The medical room confirms 33 days on the sidelines for Salah Tarek, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at El Dakhleya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Shika 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.
The dugout21 May 2029
Tasiu Lawal 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.
The dugout21 May 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Nov 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad20 Nov 2028
Mohamed Amine Katiba 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sherif Dabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match18 Nov 2028
Three points for El Dakhleya, 1‑0 the final word against ENPPI in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad20 Nov 2028
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
The manager makes an example of Mahmoud Talaat
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Ashraf Tarek could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Jul 2028
A fracture rules Mehdi Khallati out for 63 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason El Dakhleya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match10 Jul 2028
18 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market10 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what El Dakhleya can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
Youssef Nader: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” El Dakhleya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad10 Jul 2028
The step up is real for Ahmed Wahid
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Sherif Dabo in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El Dakhleya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Ismaily wanted more than $72.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad10 Jul 2028
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zamalek have kept their man, and El Dakhleya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.