Marked for Abdallah Hassan
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ismaily may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Abdallah Hassan out for 17 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ismaily will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad12 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ismaily this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Abdallah Hassan out for 26 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ismaily will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A one-man rearguard from Ahmed Adel
There were 7 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A mark of 8.01 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Mahamoud Metwaly 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Ismaily training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Éric Traoré 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Three points for Ismaily, 2‑1 the final word against Al Ahly in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
At 23 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 ratings5 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.18 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 9. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 34 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Ismaily's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ismaily has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Éric Traoré 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 Ismaily this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Mahamoud Metwaly 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.35 on the card, and the Ismaily support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match19 Sep 2026
6 matches without a win for Ismaily
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Ismaily are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Éric Traoré 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Abdallah Hassan out for 49 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ismaily will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match12 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Ismaily's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ismaily has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad14 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ismaily this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Éric Traoré 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.