Marked for Mahmoud El Wensh
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 39. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Ali Soliman is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.31 with 27 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad1 Feb 2027
The match ball belongs to Ali Soliman, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Market1 Feb 2027
The phone has started ringing about Ibrahim Tarek again, and this time the name on the line is Lech. Masr El Makasa are listening politely and promising nothing.
Match30 Jan 2027
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Masr El Makasa have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad1 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.
Match30 Jan 2027
Ali Soliman among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Ali Soliman on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Masr El Makasa and El Masry.
Match30 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ali Soliman. 4‑2 against El Masry, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 45. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Two goals and a mark of 7.96 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad4 Jan 2027
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Masr El Makasa have had the benefit of it.
Market4 Jan 2027
The bid was some way short and Masr El Makasa did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Ali Soliman
20 goals and a season average of 7.25 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match2 Jan 2027
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.
Squad4 Jan 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.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Match2 Jan 2027
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Dec 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Emad Tarek: 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Nobody wants to play Masr El Makasa right now
3 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.
Squad7 Dec 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 ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Masr El Makasa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Trezeguet El Shenawy 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A month that belonged to Amr El Wensh
The young player of the month award goes to a 19-year-old at Masr El Makasa who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 39. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Yasser Mohsen breaks a bone — 28 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad9 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Masr El Makasa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Trezeguet El Shenawy 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.
Squad9 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Military Production will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 35. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Yasser Mohsen breaks a bone — 113 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 113 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market24 Aug 2026
Zamalek come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Masr El Makasa did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Ibrahim Tarek 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Masr El Makasa will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Match22 Aug 2026
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Trezeguet El Shenawy 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.
Squad24 Aug 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.