Marked for Ashraf Soliman
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 35. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match20 Mar 2027
16 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Match20 Mar 2027
Nobody wants to play Masr El Makasa right now
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad22 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Masr El Makasa may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Mohammed Tahiri 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
He is 21, he is averaging 7.04, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Masr El Makasa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdallah Aboutrika 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
A 1‑0 win over ENPPI, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Ninety minutes of Ashraf Soliman at his very best
Marked 8.05. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Masr El Makasa.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match6 Mar 2027
6‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Match6 Mar 2027
15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad8 Mar 2027
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Market8 Mar 2027
“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 Masr El Makasa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Hassan Aboul-Maati did not need any: 8.00, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match6 Mar 2027
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Forrest Lasso and Masr El Makasa agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Masr El Makasa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Masr El Makasa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
He is 21, he is averaging 7.03, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Masr El Makasa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdallah Aboutrika 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Milton Martínez
“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.
Match20 Feb 2027
A 1‑0 win over Wadi Degla, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Jan 2027
Hossam Mohsen: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Masr El Makasa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mahmoud Trezeguet and Masr El Makasa agree another 3 years.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Abdallah Aboutrika 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Forrest Lasso 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.
Match9 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ashraf Soliman. 1‑0 against Police Union, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Ashraf Soliman was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match14 Nov 2026
Nobody wants to play Masr El Makasa right now
13 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad16 Nov 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 Masr El Makasa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Masr El Makasa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdallah Aboutrika 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
Petrojet made Masr El Makasa work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“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.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.53, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.30, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad16 Nov 2026
10 goals and a season average of 7.22. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match3 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play Masr El Makasa right now
7 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.89 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market5 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Masr El Makasa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Abdallah Aboutrika 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.
Loan watch5 Oct 2026
“I did not go to El Masry to sit and watch. I want to come back to Masr El Makasa and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 7 matches say the rest.
Match3 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ibrahim El Hadary. 2‑0 against El Masry, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match3 Oct 2026
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Ahmed Mohsen gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Masr El Makasa have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match26 Sep 2026
Aswan will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Masr El Makasa were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad28 Sep 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.28 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match26 Sep 2026
Nobody wants to play Masr El Makasa right now
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Fathy Mohsen, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.77
A mark of 7.77 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Ibrahim El Hadary 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ashraf Soliman among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Ashraf Soliman on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Masr El Makasa and Aswan.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Ashraf Soliman at his very best
Marked 9.85. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Masr El Makasa.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
The match ball belongs to Ibrahim El Hadary, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Market14 Sep 2026
“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 Masr El Makasa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match12 Sep 2026
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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 Masr El Makasa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 9.64 — 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Ashraf Soliman at his very best
Marked 8.30. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Masr El Makasa.
Squad14 Sep 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.