Marked for Bassem Trezeguet
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match7 Nov 2026
Military Production will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Masr El Makasa were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad9 Nov 2026
The match ball belongs to Fathy Hegazi, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Yasser Warda 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 Masr El Makasa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Fathy Hegazi at his very best
Marked 9.75. 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.41, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Karim Gabr beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
No hiding place for Kano
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kano, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 4‑0, already talking about the next one.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2026
27 days out for Mohamed Hassan after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Masr El Makasa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Karim Gabr runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 29. 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
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Yasser Warda 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.82 on the card, and the Masr El Makasa support went home talking about one name.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mahmoud El Hadary, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Mohamed Hassan out for 34 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Masr El Makasa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match16 Sep 2026
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 95th minute. El Dakhleya will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.15 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Amr El Wensh at 19 — 7.68
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Amr El Wensh did not need any: 7.68, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
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 7.56 for the rest of it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Yasser Warda 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.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.