Marked for Marwan Daoud
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Mar 2028
Marwan Daoud: 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.” ENPPI have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Tempers go at ENPPI
Ahmed Sabeha 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Kahraba 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 ratings20 Mar 2028
Mody Naser was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.23. 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohamed Hathout, and the manager let it.
Match18 Mar 2028
It needed Mody Naser to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against El Dakhleya, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 34. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match19 Feb 2028
No end in sight to ENPPI's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at ENPPI has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Tempers go at ENPPI
Ahmed Nader Hawash 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 Feb 2028
Words at ENPPI training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafik Kabou 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Marwan Daoud 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
“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 ratings21 Feb 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 14 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Match19 Feb 2028
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Ghazl El Mahalla came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
5.75 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
In brief
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Player ratings
A day to forget for Adham Farid
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Market
ENPPI shop where it costs nothing
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Market
Kano placed on the list
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market7 Feb 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market7 Feb 2028
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Ahmed Zaki reports back to ENPPI with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Tempers go at ENPPI
Ahmed Sabeha 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at ENPPI training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafik Kabou 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.
Match5 Feb 2028
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad7 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rafik Kabou, and the manager let it.
Market7 Feb 2028
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. ENPPI will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Feb 2028
A place in the month's best eleven for Ahmed Sabeha
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ahmed Sabeha has come out of that comparison in the side, and ENPPI have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market27 Dec 2027
“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 ENPPI, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Rafik Kabou 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 ENPPI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at ENPPI training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kahraba 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Body Samir
“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.
Match25 Dec 2027
El Masry left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
An afternoon Marwan Daoud will want back
Marked 4.61. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Ahmed Sabeha named player of the week
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Ahmed Sabeha has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Market27 Dec 2027
The Body Samir story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Body Samir signs something — a contract at ENPPI or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Oct 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ahmed Kalosha
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ENPPI lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market4 Oct 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Kahraba signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kahraba and ENPPI agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Ahmed Sabeha 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Tempers go at ENPPI
Marwan Daoud 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.
Match2 Oct 2027
A 2‑1 win over Military Production, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces4 Oct 2027
The crowd has taken to Adham Farid
At 18 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Marked 8.20. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at ENPPI.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Nobody could get near Kahraba
Successful dribbles: 10. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Rafik Kabou 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 ENPPI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market26 Jul 2027
The name of Hossam Ghanem has come up in conversations ENPPI were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad26 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ahmed Kofta, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Mohanad Bakri 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.
Market26 Jul 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. ENPPI will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 Feb 2027
Still nobody has beaten ENPPI
The unbeaten run reaches 10. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A one-man rearguard from Body Samir
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“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.
Match6 Feb 2027
4 matches without a win for ENPPI
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around ENPPI are no longer polite ones.
Market8 Feb 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ENPPI is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Tempers go at ENPPI
Rafik Kabou 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
The phone has started ringing about Youssef Beshir again, and this time the name on the line is Aswan. ENPPI are listening politely and promising nothing.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Kahraba was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.30. 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Marwan Daoud 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.