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.
Successful dribbles: 32. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Two goals and a mark of 8.59 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at Masr El Makasa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. El Sayed Zaki 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.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Al Gaish scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Masr El Makasa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ali Zaki 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and El Sayed Zaki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Mahmoud El Nenny after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and El Sayed Zaki 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 Masr El Makasa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Masr El Makasa has been clear about where Mahmoud Aboutrika stands, which is more than many ever get.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Seif Farouk Gaafar trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Masr El Makasa have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Emad Zaki trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Bassem El Nenny plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Omar El Kot on the training pitch
71 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Masr El Makasa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Successful dribbles: 32. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.19 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bassem El Nenny. 1‑0 against Military Production, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Amar Yasser, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Mahmoud El Nenny kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Walid Tarek
The dugoutAli El Wensh knocks on the manager's door
The words a physio says slowly. 123 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Masr El Makasa can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Fluminense is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Ali Zaki 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mahmoud El Nenny on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Bassem El Nenny scored in the 88th minute, Arab Contractors had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Masr El Makasa took the lot.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Salah Gabr has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bassem El Nenny. 1‑0 against Arab Contractors, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Yasser El Shenawy and Masr El Makasa agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 85th, and ENPPI spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Ali Zaki 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Masr El Makasa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. El Sayed Zaki 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ahmed Elneny and Masr El Makasa agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and El Sayed Zaki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Masr El Makasa can tell you which week it ends in.
0‑1 to Ismaily, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Mahmoud El Nenny to a room that had heard them before.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
In brief
The dugoutMohamed Ashraf asks for a word with the manager
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Masr El Makasa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. El Sayed Zaki 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mahmoud El Nenny after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Masr El Makasa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 6 arrived, 11 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
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.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and El Sayed Zaki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Ramadan Marwan 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.
El Sayed Zaki 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.
A 2‑0 win over Ghazl El Mahalla, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Marked 8.03 — 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Ali El Wensh is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bassem El Nenny provided it, and the 8.54 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 14 combined actions and a mark of 7.56, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Bassem El Nenny scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Aswan, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Masr El Makasa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. El Sayed Zaki 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.
Masr El Makasa asked and Al-Ettifaq said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I did not go to Military Production to sit and watch. I want to come back to Masr El Makasa and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 24 matches say the rest.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ashraf Ashour after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. El Sayed Zaki scored in the 86th minute, Police Union had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Masr El Makasa took the lot.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Omar El Kot has, at Masr El Makasa, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Everything agreed with Arab Contractors, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Olalekan Adeleke 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
El Sayed Zaki 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.
Masr El Makasa asked and Estudiantes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emad Zizo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Police Union have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Mostafa Ghaly obliged against Ismaily. 2‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Masr El Makasa.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.89, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Ali Zaki 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.
8.37. 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.
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.
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.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Masr El Makasa has been clear about where Ramadan Ashour stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
SquadSalah Gabr, 19, is the weekend’s best young player
2 behind and going nowhere, until Bassem El Nenny decided otherwise. Smouha had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Salah Gabr did not need any: 7.81, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Ramadan Marwan 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bassem El Nenny. 3‑2 against Smouha, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
He is 19 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.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
El Sayed Elneny was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.33. 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of El Sayed Zaki at his very best
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
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.
“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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Masr El Makasa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emad Zizo 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.
Marked 7.85 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Masr El Makasa told Ramadan Marwan something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.