Mohamed Rizk damages knee ligaments — 126 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 126 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.
The terraces31 Dec 2029
The mood at El Dakhleya has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at El Dakhleya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
7 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.
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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at El Dakhleya can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El Dakhleya 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 Sherif Dabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Mosaad Awad
Back issues
178Edition
The El Dakhleya Courier
24 Dec 2029
From our football correspondentCrisis
Squad24 Dec 2029
Mohamed Rizk damages knee ligaments — 133 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 133 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.
6 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.
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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
140 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.
0‑6 to Al Ahly, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
5 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.
5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Match15 Dec 2029
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about El Dakhleya and Al Ahly in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tasiu Lawal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Mohamed Rizk damages knee ligaments — 147 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 147 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.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at El Dakhleya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around El Dakhleya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mohamed Hamed 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.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Sherif Dabo 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.
154 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Youssef Nader will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around El Dakhleya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.17 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El Dakhleya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Sherif Dabo 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.
163 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.
“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.
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.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.90 beside his name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tasiu Lawal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” El Dakhleya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Mohamed Hamed 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.
Squad19 Nov 2029
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.
Marked 8.66 — 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.
Marked 8.35 — 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.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 87th, and Petrojet spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Karim Ragab will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around El Dakhleya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mohamed Hamed 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.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Sherif Dabo 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Interim Coach, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at El Dakhleya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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.
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.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Tasiu Lawal 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ahmed Sherif. 1‑0 against Military Production, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
17 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.
Position 18 and 4 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Mohamed Hamed and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Oct 2029
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
In brief
The dugoutYoussef Nader asks for a word with the manager
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at El Dakhleya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Mohamed Hamed 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Squad22 Oct 2029
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.
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.
15 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
15 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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Mohamed Amine Katiba scored, was marked 7.93, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at El Dakhleya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El Dakhleya 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 Tasiu Lawal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at El Dakhleya has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces8 Oct 2029
The mood at El Dakhleya has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at El Dakhleya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at El Dakhleya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.99 for the rest of 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 El Dakhleya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Sherif Dabo 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.
13 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.
“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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around El Dakhleya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” El Dakhleya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Squad1 Oct 2029
A muscle injury sidelines Mohamed Rizk for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. El Dakhleya will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
12 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.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Youssef Nader: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Ahmed Ehab obliged against Police Union. 2‑2 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is El Dakhleya.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Ahmed Ehab will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at El Dakhleya escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at El Dakhleya, and it is not being withdrawn.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.79 for the rest of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tasiu Lawal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
El Dakhleya interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Interim Coach keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
10 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Karim Ragab will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around El Dakhleya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mohamed Hamed 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 Sep 2029
Sherif Dabo 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 9 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Youssef Nader will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around El Dakhleya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.20 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 El Dakhleya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around El Dakhleya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The clubs have shaken hands with Al Gaish; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
El Dakhleya close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 9 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
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.
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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Tasiu Lawal 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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.
7 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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Karim Ragab has agreed terms with ENPPI for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Mohamed Hamed 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.
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.
Day 12 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
El Dakhleya and ENPPI have settled on $620.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
The mood at El Dakhleya has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Youssef Nader will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around El Dakhleya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The offer from Military Production for Ahmed Ehab was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Mahmoud Talaat has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
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.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
El Dakhleya asked and Smouha said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around El Dakhleya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
At 38 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Ahly have kept their man, and El Dakhleya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ghazl El Mahalla have accepted the money. What El Dakhleya do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Military Production; El Dakhleya go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Mohamed Hamed 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.
At 32 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Sherif Dabo 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.
In brief
The dugoutEmad Hamdi has become a man the manager trusts
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at El Dakhleya, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have shaken hands with Military Production; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El Dakhleya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Al Ahly wanted more than $50.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Tasiu Lawal 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.
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 Hossam Hassan is on it.
The mood at El Dakhleya has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Position 16 and 26 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around El Dakhleya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El Dakhleya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. El Dakhleya will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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.
At 23 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.
The deal with Military Production 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.
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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around El Dakhleya people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tasiu Lawal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at El Dakhleya, another week without a signature from Tasiu Lawal.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at El Dakhleya has been clear about where Ahmed Wahid stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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.
Mohamed Hamed 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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutAli Hussein knocks on the manager's door
MarketThe clock does Mahmoud Talaat’s negotiating for him
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. El Dakhleya have done the hard part with Ghazl El Mahalla, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Ali Amr is a El Dakhleya player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El Dakhleya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jun 2029
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Walid Sobhi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Trezeguet Soliman is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. El Dakhleya have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at El Dakhleya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with Military Production, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
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.
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 Mosaad Awad is on it.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at El Dakhleya can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
The name of Ahmed Sayed Gharib has come up in conversations El Dakhleya were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Mohamed Hamed 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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Sherif Dabo 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.
El Dakhleya asked and Al Ahly said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at El Dakhleya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdo Semida 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mosaad Awad trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at El Dakhleya has been clear about where Mostafa Abdelwahab stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
The dugoutHossam Hassan has become a man the manager trusts
SquadThe training reports on Karim Ragab are not good
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Mohamed Essam
147Edition
The El Dakhleya Courier
21 May 2029
From our football correspondentUneasy
The terraces21 May 2029
The mood at El Dakhleya has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at El Dakhleya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mohamed Hamed 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.
The medical room confirms 33 days on the sidelines for Salah Tarek, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at El Dakhleya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Shika 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.
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.
Mohamed Hamed 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.
Squad14 May 2029
Sherif Dabo 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.
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.
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at El Dakhleya says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. El Dakhleya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Mohamed Hamed and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 May 2029
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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Abdelnasr Mohamed has his answer from El Dakhleya; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason El Dakhleya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at El Dakhleya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at El Dakhleya is running low.
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
Words at El Dakhleya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tasiu Lawal 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. El Dakhleya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Position 16 and 26 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Mohamed Hamed 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 Sherif Dabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at El Dakhleya. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
The dugoutMohamed Rizk knocks on the manager's door
SquadThe training reports on Nader Ramadan are not good
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. El Dakhleya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at El Dakhleya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mohamed Hamed 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.
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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 26 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words at El Dakhleya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tasiu Lawal 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 50 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at El Dakhleya is running low.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El Dakhleya 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 Sherif Dabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. El Dakhleya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Position 16 and 26 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at El Dakhleya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mohamed Hamed 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.
Squad26 Mar 2029
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. El Dakhleya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Sherif Dabo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at El Dakhleya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tasiu Lawal 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason El Dakhleya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
Minute 91, against Petrojet, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Mehdi Khallati will call it something else in private.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason El Dakhleya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 88th, and Military Production spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El Dakhleya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Sherif Dabo 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 bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 86 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El Dakhleya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Tasiu Lawal 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason El Dakhleya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at El Dakhleya, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” El Dakhleya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Mohamed Amine Katiba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Sherif Dabo 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. El Masry have kept their man, and El Dakhleya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 7.60, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. El Dakhleya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at El Dakhleya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mohamed Amine Katiba 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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 108 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at El Dakhleya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at El Dakhleya until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Tasiu Lawal 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“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.
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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. El Dakhleya have done the hard part with Police Union, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El Dakhleya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Sherif Dabo 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.
0‑3 to Aswan, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at El Dakhleya, and it is not being withdrawn.
7 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at El Dakhleya can tell you which week it ends in.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. El Dakhleya have done the hard part with Al Ahly, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Mehdi Khallati and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Sherif Dabo 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. El Masry have kept their man, and El Dakhleya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
8 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.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at El Dakhleya, and it is not being withdrawn.
6 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.
The clubs have shaken hands with Military Production; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tasiu Lawal 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 El Dakhleya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Mahmoud Talaat
Position 16 and 18 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
7 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.
“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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Mohamed Amine Katiba 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 Sherif Dabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
El Dakhleya asked and Police Union said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at El Dakhleya, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 El Dakhleya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Jan 2029
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.
El Dakhleya will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ashraf Tarek was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the El Dakhleya dressing room was either.
5 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.
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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at El Dakhleya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tasiu Lawal 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” El Dakhleya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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.
Mehdi Khallati 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.
Squad18 Dec 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at El Dakhleya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mehdi Khallati 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.
Squad11 Dec 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.
Position 11, 17 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
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.
The dugout11 Dec 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 0‑5 defeat, delivered by Ashraf Tarek to a room that had heard them before.
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 5 saves does not settle it either way.
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Mehdi Khallati
123Edition
The El Dakhleya Courier
4 Dec 2028
From our football correspondentSteady
The terraces4 Dec 2028
The mood at El Dakhleya has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El Dakhleya 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 Tasiu Lawal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 88. Arab Contractors had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“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.
Mehdi Khallati and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Sherif Dabo 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.
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 Mosaad Awad is on it.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ashraf Tarek was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the El Dakhleya dressing room was either.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Mohamed Amine Katiba 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.
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.
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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Ashraf Tarek could afford to be generous.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” El Dakhleya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at El Dakhleya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tasiu Lawal 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.
“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.
The dugout13 Nov 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Ashraf Tarek to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El Dakhleya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 9.38 — 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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mohamed El Araby. 3‑1 against Military Production, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. El Dakhleya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
“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.
The dugout30 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Ashraf Tarek to a room that had heard them before.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason El Dakhleya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Baron Ochieng 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.
Minute 94, against Wadi Degla, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. El Dakhleya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.14 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Mehdi Khallati 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.
7 goals in one match, Mohamed El Araby on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of El Dakhleya and Ismaily.
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.
Marked 8.86 — 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.
Marked 8.14 — 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
14 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.
1‑5 to Haras El Hodoud, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. El Dakhleya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The shirt still fits. Mahmoud Talaat is back at El Dakhleya, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El Dakhleya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about El Dakhleya and Haras El Hodoud in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
21 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There were 89 minutes on the clock and El Masry had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and El Dakhleya did not stop to explain themselves.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
A brace, and Ahmed Sherif takes the afternoon — 8.84
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ahmed Sherif provided it, and the 8.84 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohamed Rizk, and the manager let it.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
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.” Ashraf Tarek kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
29 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 0 on the scoresheet, 7.49 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Mehdi Khallati 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.
36 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason El Dakhleya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Mehdi Khallati 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.
Squad18 Sep 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.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Ashraf Tarek left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutMehdi Khallati asks for a word with the manager
The dugoutMohamed Shika has become a man the manager trusts
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
44 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. El Dakhleya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clock did what Police Union would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at El Dakhleya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Baron Ochieng 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.
52 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 77 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Police Union have accepted the money. What El Dakhleya do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
El Dakhleya close the window on a squad of their own making
10 in and 10 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
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.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. El Dakhleya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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.
Mehdi Khallati 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between El Dakhleya and Zamalek, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. El Dakhleya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at El Dakhleya, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.01 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
At 22 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.
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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason El Dakhleya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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.
At 23 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.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
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 Mosaad Awad is on it.
In brief
The dugoutKarim Ragab asks for a word with the manager
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. El Dakhleya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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.
At 23 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.
The deal with Police Union 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El Dakhleya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 36 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. El Dakhleya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Mehdi Khallati 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.
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at El Dakhleya has been clear about where Mostafa Abdelwahab stands, which is more than many ever get.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at El Dakhleya
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
“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.
At 22 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.
Mehdi Khallati 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.
At 31 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
The mood at El Dakhleya has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
Sherif Dabo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Ahmed Sherif has improved at 25, which nobody expected
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.
El Dakhleya asked and Haras El Hodoud said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Hossam Hassan
The dugoutMosaad Awad asks for a word with the manager
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason El Dakhleya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” El Dakhleya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
At 23 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El Dakhleya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zamalek have kept their man, and El Dakhleya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at El Dakhleya, and it is not being withdrawn.
El Dakhleya have gone to Police Union with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Mehdi Khallati 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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Sherif Dabo 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. El Dakhleya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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.
Mehdi Khallati 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Sherif Dabo 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.
El Dakhleya have made the call to Zamalek. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at El Dakhleya. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Mohamed Ali Okasha may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
In brief
The dugoutKarim Ragab asks for a word with the manager
SquadThe training reports on Youssef Nader are not good
99Edition
The El Dakhleya Courier
19 Jun 2028
From our football correspondentCrisis
The terraces19 Jun 2028
The mood at El Dakhleya has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 85 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Haras El Hodoud; El Dakhleya go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
The deal with Arab Contractors 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.
El Dakhleya have made the call to Zamalek. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
The dugoutMosaad Awad has become a man the manager trusts
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason El Dakhleya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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.
The deal with Police Union 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El Dakhleya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jun 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. El Dakhleya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at El Dakhleya can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Mehdi Khallati 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. El Dakhleya will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Ahly have kept their man, and El Dakhleya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. El Dakhleya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at El Dakhleya is running low.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rodrigo Cordeiro will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around El Dakhleya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ahmed Sayed Gharib was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The mood at El Dakhleya has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason El Dakhleya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
16 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.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at El Dakhleya, and it is not being withdrawn.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. El Dakhleya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El Dakhleya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 May 2028
Sherif Dabo 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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 129 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
32 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.
“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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 136 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
39 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.
Boardroom1 May 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at El Dakhleya
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at El Dakhleya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ahmed Sayed Gharib was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Baron Ochieng is on it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at El Dakhleya, another week without a signature from Mohamed Ali Okasha.
The mood at El Dakhleya has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at El Dakhleya, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El Dakhleya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
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 Mohamed Shika is on it.
In brief
The dugoutMohamed Rizk asks for a word with the manager
11 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.
Position 17 on 18 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Mehdi Khallati 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.
Squad10 Apr 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and El Dakhleya know it.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Ashraf Tarek left the room before anybody could ask which.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. El Dakhleya told Ahmed Sayed Gharib something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
10 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.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at El Dakhleya
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at El Dakhleya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Mehdi Khallati 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.
Squad3 Apr 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Sherif Dabo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at El Dakhleya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmed Sayed Gharib 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Mehdi Khallati will call it something else in private.
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.
Position 16 and 17 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
8 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” El Dakhleya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El Dakhleya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Sherif Dabo 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.
“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.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Ashraf Tarek left the room before anybody could ask which.
4 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.
Mehdi Khallati 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Sherif Dabo 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.
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.
“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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at El Dakhleya is running low.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at El Dakhleya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Mehdi Khallati 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.
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: 20. 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.
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 22 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Mehdi Khallati and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Feb 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.
Position 16 and 16 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El Dakhleya 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 Sherif Dabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Mohamed El Araby.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ahmed Sayed Gharib was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
El Dakhleya ran out of time with Haras El Hodoud. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Ashraf Tarek left the room before anybody could ask which.
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 Mohamed Shika is on it.
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.
Wadi Degla next, and one man in the El Dakhleya dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
That is the business done at El Dakhleya until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Everything agreed with Haras El Hodoud, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rodrigo Cordeiro will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around El Dakhleya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mehdi Khallati 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Sherif Dabo 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 player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Ahmed Sayed Gharib will call it something else in private.