Marked for El Sayed Soliman
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad17 May 2027
At 21, Kutlwano Letlhaku is already the best thing here
An average of 7.24 in a first team he is several years too young for. Masr El Makasa have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad17 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kutlwano Letlhaku was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad17 May 2027
Ahmed Wahid and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout17 May 2027
Fares Khlaed 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 Fares Khlaed is on it.
Market17 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Mostafa Hassan’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market10 May 2027
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.
Squad10 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kutlwano Letlhaku was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad10 May 2027
Shikabala Aboutrika 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.
The dugout10 May 2027
When it matters, Amr Hassan plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market10 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Salah Zizo’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 May 2027
A fracture rules El Sayed Soliman out for 29 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Kutlwano Letlhaku and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Masr El Makasa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mostafa Hassan 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.
Squad3 May 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Omar Mohsen and Masr El Makasa agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout3 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Salah Hamdi's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout3 May 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Apr 2027
36 days out for El Sayed Soliman 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.
Market26 Apr 2027
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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Masr El Makasa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kutlwano Letlhaku 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Mohamed El Nenny and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Omar El Mohamady commits to Masr El Makasa for another 3 years.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Salah Zizo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Masr El Makasa 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.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ahmed El Shenawy, and the manager let it.
Market26 Apr 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ali El Shenawy’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Amr Hassan knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Masr El Makasa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Apr 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Ahmed Wahid: 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
He is 21, he is averaging 7.24, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Kutlwano Letlhaku 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Mohamed El Nenny and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Fares Khlaed 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 Fares Khlaed is on it.
Market19 Apr 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Masr El Makasa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Amr Hassan knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Masr El Makasa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Al Gaish waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Masr El Makasa is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad17 Aug 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Ahmed Wahid gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ahmed Wahid has just signed for Masr El Makasa, and for once the answer mattered.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Masr El Makasa
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Market17 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Masr El Makasa have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Masr El Makasa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mostafa Hassan 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 targets17 Aug 2026
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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Ittihad left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.