20 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Military Production has to find a result from somewhere.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shaker Ashraf 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against El Masry in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
In brief
The dugoutMahmoud Ragab asks for a word with the manager
18 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 17 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Military Production this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody at Military Production 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 13 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Position 18 and 8 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Military Production 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. Al Gaish have kept their man, and Military Production go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ali Hamdi after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shaker Ashraf 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.
55 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Military Production lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
0‑3 to Wadi Degla, 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.
6 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Military Production this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tahah 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ali Hamdi after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
85 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Military Production lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Military Production have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Tahah 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdallah Mahmoud was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Nobody at Military Production 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.
Something was said to Mohamed Abdelmaguid and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
El Masry next, and one man in the Military Production dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
In brief
Player ratingsAlaa Shaaban beats them one at a time
108 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Military Production lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Military Production has to find a result from somewhere.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Ali Hamdi chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
115 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Military Production lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
7 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.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Tahah 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.
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 were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ali Hamdi after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shaker Ashraf was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Military Production 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 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 dugout5 Oct 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Ali Hamdi to a room that had heard them before.
Mohamed Ayman 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.
Nobody at Military Production 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Mohamed Sosta’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Military Production needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Tahah has moved up it.
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Khaled Rabiaa, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.66
A mark of 7.66 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Abdallah Mahmoud 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. Mostafa Ezz Eldin 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.
Successful dribbles: 12. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Ghazl El Mahalla in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
At 21 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.
Abdallah Mahmoud 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.
6 goals in one match, Khaled Rabiaa on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Military Production and Zamalek.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑5, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdallah Mahmoud 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.
Beaten 5 times, with 5 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Military Production have done the hard part with El Masry, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Masr El Makasa have kept their man, and Military Production go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Mohamed Tarek 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.
Military Production have made the call to Ismaily. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Ali Hamdi could afford to be generous.