A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. El Masry will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.61 for the rest of it.
Karim El Eraki 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 May 2029
Words at El Masry training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nejc Gradišar 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Bambo.
Karim El Eraki 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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at El Masry training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nejc Gradišar 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.
At 20 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Bambo'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.
3‑0, and Nejc Gradišar took the headlines on an afternoon when everything El Masry tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
A brace, and Nejc Gradišar takes the afternoon — 8.82
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nejc Gradišar provided it, and the 8.82 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Karim El Eraki 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.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.94, and 2 involvements.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nejc Gradišar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Police Union tried to reorganise, El Masry did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
The offer from El Dakhleya for Baher Elmohamady 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.
The phone has started ringing about Kingsley Eduwo again, and this time the name on the line is Tromso. El Masry are listening politely and promising nothing.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mounder Temine will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around El Masry the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Karim El Eraki 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.
This is not rotation. Amr El Saadawy has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at El Masry is pretending otherwise.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at El Masry training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mahmoud Hamada 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.
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 Mohamed Shokry is on it.
Wages are the one subject a dressing room never discusses and always knows. Omar Abdelrahim has signed terms at El Masry that will be quietly noted by everybody who trains beside him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Baher Elmohamady will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around El Masry the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ittihad waiting with a shirt. Nobody at El Masry is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
El Masry offered $42.0K; Al Gaish said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kingsley Eduwo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Ahly have kept their man, and El Masry go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. El Masry will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
$12.1M was the most the club would pay and Shakhtar were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Al Ahly people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer went to Al Ain this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al Ahly can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al Ahly they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Hussein El Shahat 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Al Ahly training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Afimico Pululu 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.