Marked for Ali Hassan
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Apr 2029
The knee: Sherif Dabo out for 34 days
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. El Dakhleya lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
“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.
Market30 Apr 2029
Only the photograph left for Godwin Dede
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Godwin Dede will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around El Dakhleya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Sherif Dabo 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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Shika was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
Abdo Semida gets picked when it counts
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 Abdo Semida is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Oct 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for El-Amir Hossam
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. El Dakhleya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match28 Oct 2028
Chastening afternoon for El Dakhleya
A 0‑4 beating by Smouha was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market30 Oct 2028
“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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Abdo Semida 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sherif Dabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“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.
Boardroom30 Oct 2028
Nobody left the El Dakhleya dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
Mosaad Awad has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at El Dakhleya will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Sep 2028
60 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. El Dakhleya lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match20 Sep 2028
Police Union are out and El Dakhleya go through, 2‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.48, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
What a way to start for Ali Hassan — 7.34
0 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.34 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
No sign of nerves from Gabriel Quartey at 21 — 7.62
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Gabriel Quartey did not need any: 7.62, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Sherif Dabo 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.
Match23 Sep 2028
Aswan left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Mohamed Shika 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.
The terraces25 Sep 2028
The crowd has taken to Keagan Jali
At 18 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Jul 2028
The knee: Mohamed Rizk out for 28 days
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. El Dakhleya lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market10 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what El Dakhleya can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
The paperwork begins on Ahmed Gaber
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. El Dakhleya have done the hard part with Smouha, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market10 Jul 2028
The deal that would have taken Ahmed Sayed Gharib to Masr El Makasa has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to El Dakhleya with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Mosaad Awad and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at El Dakhleya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sherif Dabo 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.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad10 Jul 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ali Hassan commits to El Dakhleya for another 3 years.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
A loan enquiry to Zamalek: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.