5‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings26 Nov 2029
A brace, and Samuel Amadi takes the afternoon — 9.82
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Samuel Amadi provided it, and the 9.82 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match21 Nov 2029
Jude Mamman wins it after the whistle should have gone
128 minutes played. Jude Mamman found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Wadi Degla went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Smouha is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smouha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Smouha and Aswan in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
In brief
Player ratingsNejc Gradišar was on a different afternoon to everybody else
SquadSamuel Amadi falls out with a teammate over standards
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Smouha is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuel Amadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody at Smouha 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Shokry Naguib trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
SquadThe division's best last weekend was a Smouha man
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Smouha they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Khaled El Ghandour 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.
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Smouha and Police Union in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Smouha can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Smouha have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Smouha they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A performance of 9.75 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Words at Smouha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Amadi 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Smouha is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Samadou Attidjikou 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.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words at Smouha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Amadi 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Nanu has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Smouha have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 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 7.56 for the rest of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Smouha is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Khaled El Ghandour 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.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Smouha 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 Samuel Amadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Shikabala Kahraba after 2‑6, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Islam Hesham will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Smouha the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Khaled El Ghandour 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 Samuel Amadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Smouha know it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Smouha, another week without a signature from Mohamed Tarek.
Arab Contractors will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Smouha were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Mohamed Tarek is living that version at Smouha, and it tends to show in the first month.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Smouha is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Marked 9.49 — 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.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Words at Smouha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Amadi 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.
Zamalek will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Tawanda Chirewa has pre-agreed a move to Smouha, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
5‑0, and Samuel Amadi took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Smouha tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings1 Oct 2029
A brace, and Nejc Gradišar takes the afternoon — 9.29
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nejc Gradišar provided it, and the 9.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Smouha they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Shokry Naguib 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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.88, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Words at Smouha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Okechukwu Azubuike 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.” Smouha have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Smouha is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Khaled El Ghandour 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.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at Smouha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Amadi 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
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 Shikabala Kahraba left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mounder Temine trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
Player ratingsThe pass was always on for Samuel Amadi
Two goals and a mark of 9.23 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mohamed Dabash will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Smouha the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Khaled El Ghandour 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 Sherif was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.88 — 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Shikabala Kahraba on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Nobody at Smouha 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 dugout17 Sep 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Basel Medhat's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Mohamed Magdy
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of 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 Smouha can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Smouha they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Sherif was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Smouha is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The phone has started ringing about Mohamed Sherif again, and this time the name on the line is KV Mechelen. Smouha are listening politely and promising nothing.
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 6.84 for the rest of it.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Smouha close the window on a squad of their own making
13 in and 12 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 now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Gaish have kept their man, and Smouha go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Smouha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.99, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
In brief
MatchNejc Gradišar among the goals in a wild afternoon
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Smouha can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdelrahman Amer will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Smouha the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Khaled El Ghandour 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 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.
Smouha asked and Olympiacos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nejc Gradišar. 2‑0 against Wadi Degla, 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 Smouha can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Military Production waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Smouha is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have shaken hands with Zamalek; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The offer went to Al Gaish this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The offer from El Dakhleya for Islam Hesham 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.
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and ENPPI waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Smouha is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The deal with Koper 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.
Samadou Attidjikou 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.
Samuel Amadi 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.
“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 Smouha know it.
In brief
The dugoutSamuel Amadi has become a man the manager trusts
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Smouha have done the hard part with Zamalek, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Shakhtar is saying, and nobody at Smouha is enjoying the guessing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Gaish have kept their man, and Smouha go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Smouha 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.
“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 Smouha know it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Smouha people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Smouha, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Astra is saying, and nobody at Smouha is enjoying the guessing.
Khaled El Ghandour 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 Mohamed Sherif was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The clubs have shaken hands with Zamalek; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Khaled El Ghandour 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 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuel Amadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Smouha, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 20 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 26 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.
Words at Smouha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Sherif 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 Smouha 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 dugoutNejc Gradišar asks for a word with the manager
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Smouha can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Gaish have kept their man, and Smouha go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Smouha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Nejc Gradišar has improved at 26, 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Sherif 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.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Smouha 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 Smouha can pretend not to have heard.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Astra is saying, and nobody at Smouha is enjoying the guessing.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Sunday Faleye is living that version at Smouha, and it tends to show in the first month.
Mounder Temine 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.
Smouha asked and El Masry said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Nor Maviram has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Smouha have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Smouha 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 Smouha, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Astra 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.
Mahamoud Metwaly and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Words at Smouha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Sherif 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.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Smouha lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Smouha had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AEK, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Sherif 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.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Smouha lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Smouha have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Smouha is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Mostafa El Gamal has agreed terms with Al Gaish for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smouha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuel Amadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Smouha can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Smouha lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Done, and with games to spare. Next season has floodlit nights against clubs from other countries in it, and the accounts have a line they did not have last year.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Smouha can pretend not to have heard.
Smouha and Zamalek have settled on $110.0K. 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Smouha have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Khaled El Ghandour 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Bruno Ponce has just signed for Smouha, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Sherif 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. Petrojet have kept their man, and Smouha go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
BoardroomThe Smouha board find $1.7M for the manager
The words a physio says slowly. 56 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Smouha can pretend not to have heard.
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 Emad Zizo is on it.
64 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Smouha 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. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Khaled El Ghandour 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.
Words at Smouha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shokry Naguib 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.
71 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Smouha 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. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Mounder Temine 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 Mohamed Sherif 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 Nejc Gradišar is on it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Yehia Zakaria has his answer from Smouha; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Daniel Lajud trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Islam Hesham a promise
The words a physio says slowly. 78 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Smouha 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 Smouha can pretend not to have heard.
Shokry Naguib 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 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 Smouha 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Terence Ngankam has his answer from Smouha; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The words a physio says slowly. 85 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 Smouha, and it is not being withdrawn.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shokry Naguib 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 92 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Khaled El Ghandour 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 Sherif was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 100 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Smouha will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Khaled El Ghandour 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 Mohamed Sherif was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Smouha told Nejc Gradišar something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mohamed Sherif trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 107 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 3-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Nejc Gradišar was at the centre of it, Haras El Hodoud were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Smouha will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings9 Apr 2029
A brace, and Nejc Gradišar takes the afternoon — 8.97
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nejc Gradišar provided it, and the 8.97 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
115 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Smouha 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. 66 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Mahamoud Metwaly 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Smouha and El Masry, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
El Masry made Smouha work for it, but the scoreboard read 4‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings2 Apr 2029
Nejc Gradišar was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.75. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The words a physio says slowly. 123 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.
Zamalek go through and Smouha go home, 1‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Smouha 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 team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Successful dribbles: 29. 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.
130 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Smouha lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Smouha will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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. 12 actions, 7.24, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Minute 92, against Al Gaish, 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.
137 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Smouha lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Smouha will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Smouha can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nejc Gradišar. 4‑3 against Police Union, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
144 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Smouha 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. 95 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 Smouha can pretend not to have heard.
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 dugout5 Mar 2029
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 Shikabala Kahraba left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Mohamed Seha
The dugoutNejc Gradišar knocks on the manager’s door
The words a physio says slowly. 152 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Smouha will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Khaled El Ghandour 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 Sherif 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 Shokry Naguib.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Smouha will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Mahmoud El Hadary is living that version at Smouha, and it tends to show in the first month.
Mounder Temine 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Smouha will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Smouha had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Shakhtar, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Shokry Naguib 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 Mohamed Sherif was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Smouha asked and Spartak Trnava said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 123 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.20 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Marked 7.75. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nejc Gradišar 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. Smouha will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Astra is saying, and nobody at Smouha is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smouha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Arab Contractors waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Smouha is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Smouha will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The 87th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Nejc Gradišar decided nobody was going anywhere. Ittihad had no time left to answer.
“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 Smouha, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
Up for the corner, and Hesham Hafez delivers — 7.98
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Hesham Hafez scored, was marked 7.98, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Smouha have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Smouha, and it is not being withdrawn.
The fee is $1.6M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Al Ahly drove a hard bargain; time will say who won 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 Smouha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Nejc Gradišar from Al Ahly for $1.6M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Shokry Naguib 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 88, 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Smouha people have started saying his name in the past tense.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.59 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Kolos keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Khaled El Ghandour and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Smouha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Sherif 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 brace, and Samuel Amadi takes the afternoon — 9.42
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Samuel Amadi provided it, and the 9.42 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 87. Zamalek had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Smouha can pretend not to have heard.
Two goals and a mark of 9.36 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Smouha 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 Smouha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Samuel Amadi. 4‑3 against Wadi Degla, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
7 goals in one match, Samuel Amadi on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Smouha and Wadi Degla.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Samadou Attidjikou 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 Sherif was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ahmed Ghoneim will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Smouha the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Shokry Naguib 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 Sherif was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Smouha will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Smouha they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Khaled El Ghandour 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 Dec 2028
Words at Smouha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shokry Naguib 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. Smouha will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Smouha they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Khaled El Ghandour 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 Mohamed Sherif was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Shokry Naguib 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 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.
Successful dribbles: 41. 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Smouha will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.42 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ahmed Ghoneim will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Smouha the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shokry Naguib 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 dugout13 Nov 2028
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.” Shikabala Kahraba, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Fathy El Shenawy
The dugoutShokry Naguib knocks on the manager’s door
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Insa Badji
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Smouha will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smouha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at Smouha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Sherif 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 keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Smouha, another week without a signature from Greisha.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Smouha will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Smouha is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smouha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Smouha 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. 61 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Samadou Attidjikou 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 first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Al Ahly; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Successful dribbles: 39. 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.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Smouha 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. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
4 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.
Shokry Naguib 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 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.
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Smouha 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. 76 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
A 1‑0 win over Arab Contractors, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Samuel Amadi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.43. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Smouha 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. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 8.90 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.35 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Smouha will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Smouha they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Smouha will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
44 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Smouha lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 90th minute. ENPPI will replay every second of the added time for a week.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.00 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Shokry Naguib 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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Mohamed Dabash
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Smouha will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Smouha lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Smouha have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
1 for Samadou Attidjikou, marked 7.64, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Shokry Naguib 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Smouha will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
58 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Smouha lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Shokry Naguib 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.
Smouha asked and Kolos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The words a physio says slowly. 65 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.
0‑4 against Zamalek, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 12 signed and 8 gone
That is the business done at Smouha 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Smouha is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smouha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
At 26 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.
72 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Smouha lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Shokry Naguib 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.
$130.0K was the most the club would pay and Arab Contractors were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Smouha will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
79 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Smouha lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.08 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at PAOK is saying, and nobody at Smouha is enjoying the guessing.
At 20 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.
Mahamoud Metwaly 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 offer went to Arab Contractors this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Smouha will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
86 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Smouha lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Masr El Makasa waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Smouha is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Smouha can pretend not to have heard.
Smouha had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Kryvbas, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Smouha they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Khaled El Ghandour 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 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Arab Contractors have kept their man, and Smouha go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Janos Lang is in the works
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The words a physio says slowly. 93 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Smouha have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Smouha is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Smouha had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at DAC Dunajska Streda, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
At 31 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Petrojet have kept their man, and Smouha 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. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
100 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Smouha lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Mahamoud Metwaly 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 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.
DAC Dunajska Streda have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Smouha will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
108 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Smouha lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Smouha have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Smouha have done the hard part with Arab Contractors, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Smouha they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Body 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smouha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Smouha will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The words a physio says slowly. 115 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 Smouha, and it is not being withdrawn.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mostafa Ezz Eldin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Smouha the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smouha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 25 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. Hajduk Split have kept their man, and Smouha go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Smouha will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
123 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Smouha lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Smouha and Arab Contractors have settled on $120.0K. 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.
“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 Smouha, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Smouha is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shokry Naguib was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 67 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The words a physio says slowly. 132 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.
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.
Smouha asked and Spartak Trnava said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Smouha will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
140 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Smouha 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 Smouha, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Smouha have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Shokry Naguib 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 Mahamoud Metwaly was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Smouha have made the call to Spartak Trnava. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Smouha will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Smouha have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Smouha, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Aswan 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 Smouha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Shokry Naguib 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.
Smouha asked and PAOK said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Smouha will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Petrojet have accepted the money. What Smouha do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“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 Smouha, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Smouha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shokry Naguib 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Zagreb have kept their man, and Smouha go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Mounder Temine 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 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 Smouha, and it is not being withdrawn.
Shokry Naguib 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 Mahamoud Metwaly was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 105 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smouha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shokry Naguib was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mounder Temine trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Smouha will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Smouha have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Khaled El Ghandour 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.
Squad22 May 2028
Shokry Naguib 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 Smouha will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Shokry Naguib trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Smouha, another week without a signature from Abdelrahman Amer.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Smouha. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Mahamoud Metwaly 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 Sherif 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 Smouha, another week without a signature from Mohamed Dabash.
Mahamoud Metwaly 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.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Smouha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Sherif 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Smouha know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smouha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mahamoud Metwaly was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mohamed Dabash trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Smouha have no good answer.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ahmed Zaki has written the date down.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Mohamed Ragab are not good
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Sherif was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Mohamed Sherif has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Insa Badji trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mostafa Ezz Eldin has his answer from Smouha; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Position 6 on 53 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 53 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Sherif was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 2‑0 win over Haras El Hodoud, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“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.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Mohamed Sherif was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.53. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Shokry Naguib 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 Mahamoud Metwaly was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Smouha told Abdelrahman Akmal something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Khaled El Ghandour 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 Mohamed Sherif was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Aswan spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
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.” Shikabala Kahraba, on a 3‑2 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shokry Naguib was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
11 goals in 23 games at Ismaily — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Smouha updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
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.
Shokry Naguib 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Smouha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Dabash is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Mounder Temine was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.06. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Smouha have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Mahamoud Metwaly 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.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Mounder Temine was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.58. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at Smouha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shokry Naguib 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 3‑1 win over Masr El Makasa, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.28 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smouha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Shokry Naguib 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.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Khaled El Ghandour. 2‑0 against El Dakhleya, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Shokry Naguib and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Amr El Sisi 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.
9 goals in 19 games at Ismaily — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Smouha updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Smouha have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Astra keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Mahamoud Metwaly 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.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Smouha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shokry Naguib 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Smouha people have started saying his name in the past tense.
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 7.78 for the rest of it.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Smouha may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Smouha close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 2 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Smouha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shokry Naguib 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 85. Arab Contractors had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Two goals and a mark of 8.42 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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 Smouha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
14 goals and a season average of 7.22. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Smouha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mahamoud Metwaly 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.
Minute 93, against Ghazl El Mahalla, 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Smouha they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Khaled El Ghandour 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 Shokry Naguib 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 86. ENPPI had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The offer from Zamalek for Shokry Naguib 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.
Words at Smouha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shokry Naguib 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 loan enquiry to Spartak Trnava: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Something was said to Insa Badji and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Smouha people have started saying his name in the past tense.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.32 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Shokry Naguib 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 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.
Smouha asked and Astra said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Smouha can pretend not to have heard.
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.
The shirt still fits. Momen Mohamed Abd Rabo is back at Smouha, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shokry Naguib was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Samadou Attidjikou 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.