Marked for Luiz Carlos
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Jul 2027
Mido Mostafa hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Smouha can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Smouha may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market12 Jul 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Smouha is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Smouha
Leon Balogun 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
The fee is $66.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. ENPPI drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Smouha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amr El Sisi 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Apr 2027
Leon Balogun 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 Smouha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Nazareno Bazán Vera 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luiz Carlos, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Smouha
Leon Balogun 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Hesham Balaha 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Luiz Carlos gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Samadou Attidjikou
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Samadou Attidjikou has come out of that comparison in the side, and Smouha have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Shots: 9, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Aug 2026
Chastening afternoon for Smouha
A 0‑4 beating by Zamalek was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market31 Aug 2026
Islam Ateya hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Smouha can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Smouha
Leon Balogun 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Smouha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amoory 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luiz Carlos, and the manager let it.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Smouha pick somebody else ahead of Amoory
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Market31 Aug 2026
The name of Hesham Balaha keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Smouha say nothing, which says plenty.