Egypt 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup

Egypt kicked-off the tournament in front of 80,000 spectators in the new Borg El Arab Stadium by convincingly beating Trinidad & Tobago 4-1. Afroto opened the scoring with magnificent individual effort only for Rochford to equalize later on. Egypt upped their game in the second adding goals from Mohamed Talaat and two from Zamalek's Hossam Arafat. The Young Pharaohs looked uneasy defending but fantastic looking forward. Egypt keeper Aly Lotfy helped keep the score as is with a number of fantastic saves. Egypt will play Paraguay tomorrow and must improve defensively to insure qualification with a win. Paraguay earlier played out boring 0-0 draw with Italy.

Results so far:

Group A

Egypt 4 Trinidad and Tobago 1

Paraguay 0 Italy 0

Group B

Nigeria 0 Venezuela 1

Spain 8 Tahiti 0

Group C

USA 0 Germany 3

Cameroon 2 Korea Republic 0

Group D

Ghana 2 Uzbekistan 1

England 0 Uruguay 1

Follow all Results at http://www.fifa.com/u20worldcup/matches/index.html

Jealous of United

Well it seems there are a million reasons why one should be jealous of Manchester United. They have been one of the most successful teams in England for the last decade or two. They have boasted some brilliant players along the way, Cantona, Beckham, Ronaldo, Giggs to name a few. They also don't do too bad in Europe. To me however the main thing is that they have Sir Alex at the helm.

Alex Ferguson has had a very successful spell at Aberdeen before coming to Manchester, but it is at United that he truly shined. His record includes 11 Premier League Titles, 5 FA Cups, 3 League Cups, 8 Community Shields, 2 Champions Leagues, a Cup Winners Cup, a European Super Cup, Intercontinental Cup and a FIFA Club World Cup in 2008. This would be enough for anyone, anyone other than Sir Alex. The Gaffer continues to show an eagerness and hunger in every game that can only be compared to the genuine excitement present only among kids experiencing the world for the first time. This again and again is ever present in him and last weeks game against City was no exception.

The build up to this game made it more exciting, with words flying from both camps. City was a new power house, Fergie saying they are a small club and most of all the presence of Tevez. He was a United favorite last season and now boasts City's colours. A Recipe for excitement for sure.

The game never failed to deliver, a thrilling 4-3 victory for Ferguson's men. City fans will be blaming their poor luck for the defeat and the extra 1.5minutes of injury time. I blame Sir Alex.

The score was a bit flattering for City who rarely threatened United except in the first half and managed to capitalize on two Ben Foster howlers. The second half was a different story. It showed the difference in caliber between Hughes and Sir Alex (Hughes has the potential to be great, but for the time being he can learn a thing or two from Sir Alex). Ferguson transformed the game in the second half and dominated City for most of it and could have won by a bigger margin if not for the brilliant Shay Given. He gave the game to Giggs to dictate and he delivered with flying colours. The former winger played most of the game on his familiar left wing and was truly magical. His crosses and slick passing creating 3 of the 4 goals. Sir Alex had the guts to substitute Berbatov, when it was evident he was having a good game and only Given was keeping him at bay. Ferguson sensed it was not his day and gambled on Michael Owen. The thrilling striker "drifted" away from the city defense and slotted home with a precision finish to repay Ferguson's faith in him. I am and always will be a huge fan of Michael Owen and for him to score the winning goal was the highlight for me, in a game when I wished both teams could lose. Why Mr. Benitez never signed him as a back up for Torres is beyond me, he was free damn it!

Fergie showed after the game that not only is he a master tactician but yet again a brilliant speaker and incredible in mind games. He had this to say:

On The game

"The mistakes probably made it the best derby of all time."

"What would you rather have, a 6-0 win or the greatest derby of all time? I would prefer to win 6-0"

On Owen

"Michael was only on for something like 17 minutes,"

"He was the best man to be on there when the game is going to be in their penalty box. There is no-one better at taking chances."

"His positional play, first touch and finish were absolutely superb. World class."

On City

"Sometimes you have a noisy neighbour. You cannot do anything about that. They will always be noisy,"

"You just have to get on with your life, put your television on and turn it up a bit louder."

"Today the players showed their form. That is the best answer of all."

All Hail Sir Alex

Who Are Ya?

Rarely would I have expected that watching a Premier League football game would instill such rage and anger inside of me. I was not counting on Mad-Ebayor to pull off so much crap out of his bag. Sitting down to watch the Arsenal versus City game I knew it was always going to be an interesting game. City were unbeaten and looking to establish themselves as a new powerhouse in English football. Two X Arsenal players, Adebayor and Toure were facing off against their team. Being a Gunner myself I held no ill feelings towards either player. They had a good run at the club and if they felt they want to leave then they should. I am never a fan of keeping players against their will as they will never give 100% if they are unhappy. Although sadly in Egypt Clubs tend to think of players as slaves of some sort and anyone who dares think about leaving clubs (especially from Ahly and Zamalek) or actually succeeds in doing so is deemed to have "escaped", yes this is a direct translation of the word used to describe such player, the same word we use to describe convicts and prisoners!

Anyways the game ended in a 4-2 win for City, a shock by itself for me and possibly a reality check that Wenger's youth project is all but doomed to failure for another year. Arsenal were again conceding at periods of the game were they were dominant just as they did versus United, they showed once again they are a team of boys and not men, sadly. I hope Mr. Wenger can prove me and all of his critics wrong.

Saddened by the result I was however left infuriated by Adebayor. He started out with a studs challenge on Fabregas that could have left him injured, an elbow here and there and so on. He then upped his game and decided to step on Van Persie's face while Robin was on the ground. This action was of clear malice. It had bad intentions all over it. One replay angle showed it very clearly, he knew were he was and what exactly he was doing. He should have been sent off. Luckily Robin was not seriously injured except for a bloody face. Why the violence?

Adebayor then scored the third goal that effectively clinched the game for City, good enough.. Not for him! He proceeded to run the full length of the pitch and celebrated in front of the Arsenal away fans, the fans were undoubtedly annoyed and only a miracle stopped the situation from escalating. Why the hate? By then I was fuming and like a friend was telling me if Viera was there Adebayor would have been out on a stretcher, I wished he was!

Adebayor then claimed that he didn't mean to step on Van Persie's face and he was run with emotions and wasn't thinking when he ran 70 meters to celebrate infront of the fans he claimed jeered him last season. These set of excuses are as lame as it can get. Adebayor had an agenda against Arsenal and Arsenal fans and frankly he has no reason to act this way. He was jeered at the start of the season because he had openly talked about moving to Barcelona and Milan, no loyalty from the player...no loyalty from the fans. However the jeers stopped towards the end of the season even though it was obvious to everyone how lazy he has become. When a good offer came to him Arsenal sold him so he can make the money he wants and fulfill his dreams, Arsenal were under no pressure to sell him, he was under contract for sometime. Another person would have appreciated this. Not Adebayor. Toure did and he was a gentlemen as always.

As an African I'm always supportive of talented players from the continent. I'm possibly one of two Egyptians who adore Drogba. With Adebayor I'm breaking the trend. I will cheer on United for the first time in years next week as they take him on. City have now become my new Zamalek/Inter, I used to like them. I will be laughing out load when City finish 5th. Most of all I will be looking forward to seeing Adebayor drop down the table after the FA hits him with a six game ban, boy I hope they do. Just heard he's being charged on the both incidents.

P.S: I'm not putting a picture of Adebayor in my blog:)

Movie of the Week

The Damned United

Based on the book by the same name it tells the story of Brian Clough's raine as manager of Leeds United in the mid 70's. The movie is very well scripted and directed and early on engulfs you into the lives of football managers and the state of the English leagues in the 60's and 70's. It is truly a memorable watch and not knowing the history behind Mr. Clough only added to the huge entertainment value. Make no mistake this is no Goal, this has content and top notch acting. Michael Sheen is excellent as always as was Timothy Spall who plays long time friend and partner Peter Taylor. I couldn't hide the smile on my face when former Zamalek Coach Dave MacKay appeared. It gave me unprecedented insight inside the beautiful game. It is a must watch for all football fans and movie fans a like.

Rating: 4.5/5

Algeria 1 Zambia 0

Algeria managed to cement their control on our World Cup Qualification Group with a hard fought 1-0 home victory to Zambia. It could have been a different story though if a Zambia goal early in the second half was not incorrectly disallowed for offside. Algeria now top the group with 10 points, 3 clear of second placed Egypt with two games to go. I'm sad to say but the odds are stacked against Egypt qualifying.

Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts

Algeria 4 3 1 0 6 1 +5 10

Egypt 4 2 1 1 6 4 +2 7

Zambia 4 1 1 2 2 4 -2 4

Rwanda 4 0 1 3 0 5 -5 1

Remaining Fixtures:

Algeria : Rwanda

Zambia: Egypt

Rwanda : Zambia

Egypt : Algeria

When the Going Gets Tough the Tough Get Going

Yesterday saw Egypt take on Rwanda in a must win game for Egypt if they would have any chance of qualifying for next years' World Cup. As the pole here suggested no one really knew what to expect from this game. Egypt are well renowned for buckling away from home and they were up against a team that hasn't lost a game at home for two years, until yesterday that is.

It is common knowledge to people who know me that I'm not a fan of Hassan Shehata, I am a fan of Egypt however and there is a huge distinction. I may not agree with his tactical choices and selection but by god if he takes us to the World Cup I'll be waving a flag and calling his name. Yesterday we got some hope back by beating Rwanda 1-0 and we are joint top of our qualification group with Algeria pending their game tonight versus Zambia, pressure is on them now. The game was a confusing and boring affair with neither team really threatening but what one could tell Egypt wanted it more. The contest was settled by Egyptian Captain Ahmed Hassan midway through the second half after a goal mouth scramble. The Eagle was the best player on the field although he seemed to run out of gas completely in the second half, that tells you much about his team mates. Egypt were missing alot of key players, alot of offensive options to be exact. Zaki, Meteb and AbuTrieka were all missing due to injury. Mido was unfit and Zidan had personal issues with Shehata. As a result Egypt had to field the 5th, 6th and 7th choice strikers. Honestly they are not up to par but hats off to them for giving it a go in the game, especially Dodi El Gabbas who put in a real fighting effort.

The Egyptian team overall was very poor except for the back three of Hany Said, Gomaa and Ocka. However they were never really tested. Hadary was average and made two decent saves although he messed up a back pass and looked very weak in handling crosses. It would do us good to start grooming a replacement. The midfield was a joke. Shawky was in a different planet and the lack of first team football must be affecting him while Abd Rabo was a ghost of his former self and frankly should not start for Egypt anymore. Him playing in a very weak league (Emirates League) has definitely contributed to his poor form. It would do us better to play Fathi in midfield as the poor lad can't cross a ball to save his life and playing him in the right wing back position makes him and us look foolish. Mohamady could be played there instead although he is known for his defensive frailties. There would be no better time to call up Hossam Ashour to fill this void in midfield. The boy puts his head down and plays football and has been doing that consistently for the past 4 or so years. Ghaly is another option although I'm not sure about him. The only breath of fresh air for Egypt was Barakat. He has proved once again that he is a player for the big occasions and having him in the squad as a starter or a sub will always add an exciting dimension to the team going forward. Negatives aside, it was a good win away from home, a win which we needed and that we got even though we were missing alot of key players. For once we showed that we are tough enough to play poorly and get the three points. Hopefully this can be a foundation to build on the remaining two games although winning them might still not be enough due to goal difference. Why were we wasting time against a hopeless Rwanda towards the end? Didn't the coach and players know that one more goal might have been just what the doctor ordered? I hope we don't live to regret this.

The best thing in the game was the referee, albeit a few mistakes here and there, but the worse was definitely ART commentator Essam Abdo (apologies if that's not his name). This guy talked nonsense through out the game it was frankly distracting. At one point he suggested that 17,000 people from the London and the whole of England proceeded to Birmingham to watch the game? Really? is this guy for real? The only place in the UK were you can watch this bloody game is Birmingham of all places! He seems to forget that one underground station from Oxford street he can go about and watch possibly El Gouna take on Mansheyet Nasser in Edgewar Road!!! He wasn't done there he was almost crying like a baby and calling the referee unfair cause of four added minutes of injury time, grow up will you Mr. Abdo, we are playing Rwanda and not Brazil. What really bugged me though was how he was portraying the game in a religious context. He kept insisting that please god since we were fasting and since this was Ramadan we must win and comments like that throughout the game. Mr. Abdo seems to forget that half the team from Rwanda were Muslims too, and that football was a sport and has nothing to do with religious beliefs. And like a famous sports writer in EL Masry EL Yome once said that if praying and fasting were the criteria for winning games and not skill then the Taliban would win the World Cup and dominate the Olympics!!!!

Cote D'Ivoire officially qualified yesterday after a 5-0 mauling of Burkina Faso. Cameroon found itself in a tough spot and beat group leaders Gabon away 2-0. This is the toughness we were always lacking and possibly might have found in Rwanda of all places. However don't be surprised if we lose it once again in Zambia.