The Smouha Sentinel
Squad14 Feb 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Leon Balogun
100 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.
Market14 Feb 2028
Mostafa El Khawaga asks to leave Smouha
“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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Youssef Afifi keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Smouha may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Samadou Attidjikou signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Samadou Attidjikou and Smouha agree another 3 years.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Smouha
Leon Balogun 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.
Match12 Feb 2028
Smouha find a way past Ittihad
Ittihad made Smouha work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
The afternoon belonged to Insa Badji
A mark of 7.89, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The terraces14 Feb 2028
Everybody has an opinion about Samuel Amadi
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
A day to forget for Ahmed Fawzi
Marked 5.76, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
In brief
- Player ratings Off the pace: Abdelrahman Amer
- Market The shop window has Ibrahim El Bahnasi in it
- Player ratings Hesham Balaha runs at them all day