“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ENPPI can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Marwan Daoud 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.
“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 dugout13 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Abdallah Warda was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the ENPPI dressing room was either.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. El Dakhleya defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Masr El Makasa in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Arab Contractors go through and ENPPI go home, 3‑0 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.79 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marwan Daoud 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
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.
Rafik Kabou 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Hathout was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout1 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Abdallah Warda left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody at ENPPI will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between ENPPI and Petrojet, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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.
Something was said to Ahmed Nader Hawash and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Adham Farid did not need any: 7.69, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ENPPI they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ENPPI can pretend not to have heard.
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.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 87. Ismaily had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Kahraba reports back to ENPPI with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ahmed Zaki will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around ENPPI the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
ENPPI close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 13 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Peter Dakka has, at ENPPI, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Rafik Kabou 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.
ENPPI asked and Arab Contractors said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Police Union waiting with a shirt. Nobody at ENPPI is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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.
Everything agreed with Al-Qadisiyah, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
ENPPI asked and Al Ain said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Hathout 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.
In brief
Player ratingsAmmar Hamdy beats them one at a time
The dugoutBody Samir has become a man the manager trusts
The offer from El Dakhleya for Ahmed Kalosha 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Military Production waiting with a shirt. Nobody at ENPPI is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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.
Add another name to the list: El Dakhleya have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Hossam Ghanem. The answer from ENPPI has not changed — yet.
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 dugout26 Jul 2027
Body Samir is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. ENPPI know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ENPPI can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Body Samir 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.
ENPPI asked and Al-Ra'ed said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ahmed Sabeha 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 easiest signature of my career.” Abdelaziz El Zoghbi and ENPPI agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Body Samir's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
ENPPI have made the call to Al-Qadisiyah. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Salah Zayid
“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.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Hathout 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ENPPI they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Nobody at ENPPI will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 44 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Abdelaziz El Zoghbi did not need any: 7.66, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Hathout was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
The dugout3 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Body Samir's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Omar Osama Hassan has agreed terms with Wadi Degla for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for ENPPI is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at ENPPI pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Nobody at ENPPI will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Ahmed Zaki
Rafik Kabou 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.
At 19 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.
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.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Al Ahly.
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 Ahmed Zaki is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Al Ahly in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Hathout 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 6.96, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Abdallah Warda after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at ENPPI 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hossam Ghanem will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around ENPPI the goodbyes have quietly begun.
At 18 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.
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.
A 2‑1 win over Arab Contractors, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Marked 8.28 — 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Abdallah Warda kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
8 goals in 24 games at Arab Contractors — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at ENPPI updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 7.08, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Abdallah Warda on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
Rafik Kabou 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mody Naser 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.
“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 dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Abdallah Warda left the room before anybody could ask which.
Something was said to Ahmed Kofta and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
He is 26, he is from here, and the shirt he was raised to wear has gone to somebody bought for it. The academy staff have noticed, and so has the town.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Emad Mayhoub’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and ENPPI needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hossam Ghanem will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around ENPPI the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tractor have kept their man, and ENPPI go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kahraba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ENPPI can pretend not to have heard.
The deal that would have taken Reda El Sayed to Military Production has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to ENPPI with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
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.
“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.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Abdallah Warda to a room that had heard them before.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Ammar Hamdy
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ammar Hamdy has come out of that comparison in the side, and ENPPI have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
In brief
The dugoutAhmed El Agouz is still being punished for one mistake
“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.
7.92, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Hilal have kept their man, and ENPPI go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
1 for Ahmed El Agouz, marked 7.60, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
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.
ENPPI asked and Tractor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 words a physio says slowly. 21 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al-Qadisiyah keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Rafik Kabou and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Body Samir 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.
ENPPI asked and Rosenborg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ENPPI lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ENPPI can pretend not to have heard.
“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.
Everything agreed with Al Jazira, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Rafik Kabou 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Body Samir was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ENPPI will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Rafik Kabou 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Hathout 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 never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Salah Zayid commits to ENPPI for another 3 years.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Abdallah Warda to a room that had heard them before.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Masr El Makasa in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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.
15 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ENPPI will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
8 goals in one match, Ahmed Zaki on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of ENPPI and Al Ahly.
44 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.
1‑4 to Ghazl El Mahalla, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ENPPI will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑4 defeat, delivered by Abdallah Warda to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 69 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Youssef Beshir will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around ENPPI the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ahmed Sabeha 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 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 is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Ghazl El Mahalla next, and one man in the ENPPI dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. ENPPI know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ENPPI will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ENPPI they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
At 18 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Abdallah Warda after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. ENPPI know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at ENPPI 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.
In brief
The dugoutFares Fakhri asks for a word with the manager
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ENPPI will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
7.77, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
9 combined actions and 7.57. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 114 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Rafik Kabou 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Siah Jamegan have kept their man, and ENPPI go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Hathout 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.
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Abdallah Warda kept it short after the 3‑2 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.