The Hand of God!

No it's not the Maradona goal vs England in 1986. It's worse (well not really). It's the Michael Eneramo goal against Ahly in the first minute of the second leg of the African Champions League Semi- Final. It was a blatant hand ball. The referee Mr. Lamptey had to be blind to have missed it.

Don't believe me check it out....

There is no doubt in my mind that the referee was one of the worst I have ever seen in a football game. He allowed a clear hand ball to stand, gave too few yellow cards to Esperance (Taragy) players compared to Ahly and allowed the game to be played with just 1 ball. Ahly players were scrambling for the ball all the time, but the there were no extra balls and the ball boys never tried to get the balls back onto the pitch. Taragy players continued to fall to ground in every occasion and to top it off the referee gave 3 minutes of added time in the first half and 5 in the second. The referee lost control of the game after allowing the hand ball to stand. Let's be clear though, at the end of the day we lost the game and the referee did not make us lose it....

Yes the referee had a role but lets take a look how the players applied themselves in the game. A team with Ahly's experience should not lose control like they did after conceding just one goal very early on. The players went mad with rage and frankly almost every single foul the referee called against Ahly was correct and every single yellow card was deserved and don't pretend you are blind...Barakat had to go. The red card was a must, raising your hand against your opponent and smacking him on the face (I don't care if it is a touch or a punch..this is not MMA!!!) is a sending off offense. Yes the Esperance player made a meal out of it, but a lot of players do that. The mad men of Ahly were undone by their own in ability to control themselves. Control and discipline stems from the coach first and the players second.

Never have I seen an Ahly team lack that much of sportsmanship , rude, aggressive and frankly not for the first time. It happened in the league and against the Algerian team. Sadly they reminded me of Zamalek...enough said! It is not the first time we have played against a team and a referee. This is common in Africa so lets not be naive about it and pretend that we are heroes and that the referee robbed us of our dream. Have Egypt and Ahly fans lost their memories? Do none of you remember that Ahly scored a hand ball goal in Cairo? Take a look at how the Tunisian team carried themselves after the goal. They aggressively voiced their concern about the goal, however no one was red carded and they continued to play their brand of football even after conceding a second goal, until they managed a priceless away goal! This is how Ahly should have responded, sadly Badry had turned us into grunts! I recall us playing in the African Cup with Manuel Jose against Enyemba in Nigeria. The referee and linesman failed to flag the forward of the Nigerian team, although he was 5 yards offside throughout the game. My friends and I even called him " Mr. Offsido". How did we respond? we played ball and beat them 1-0. Do you remember losing the Champions league in Cairo 1-3 against Etoile de Sahel (El Negm al Sa7elly). We had 2 legitimate claims of penalties denied and Emad El Nahass was red carded. Did we turn violent? Lose our cool? Attack other players and the referee? No we took it like men and played football.....Barakat would not have dared attempt such a prank then and he should be ashamed of himself! As for Hossam Ashour it seems he has lost his mind and is lucky he was not red carded, twice or possibly arrested for assault:P

Refereeing mistakes and bad tempers aside, did we deserve to win? In my opinion we did not! We had 90minutes to score a goal that would have been enough to push us through but we failed to create anything. Yes going down to 10 men made it difficult but we were playing an average team in my opinion who did not even press on for a second goal against a broken and impotent Ahly team. We managed 2 shots for the whole of the 90minutes. 2 shots can you believe it? One of which was a free kick!!! We managed just 2 crosses from open play, yet we blame the referee for the loss. How the mighty have fallen. How do you expect the team to win with a coach that will not address his short comings? Hossam El Badry had the audacity to comment that the result of the game was predetermined. Couldn't el Taragy say the same thing regarding the Cairo game? Instead of focusing on creating chances and playing football he focused his energy on anger towards the referee. Our only game plan was long balls from the keeper towards Geddo, who is not a target man by trade (although I think he applied himself brilliantly and was our best player on the pitch) and one legged Moody Fadl who is a target man by trade but has the strength of an 80 year old grandmother. When we needed a goal we got on a defensive midfielder in Shehab, I was expecting Shawky frankly LOL! Why not an attacking player like Shoukry? I used to think Badry is useless but frankly I think he is more out of his depth than anything else. The pressure that comes with managing a club with the pedigree of Ahly is too much for him (Zamalek might suite him:P). We need someone else.

Finally were was Abou Trieka in all of this? He was no were to be seen. He was not involved in any argument or in the game itself. He looks to me like a man disheartened by how his club is applying itself! Allah yemaseek bel khier ya Manuel ya Jose (May good things come to you Jose) and R.I.P nady el 2khla2 wa 2al mabde2 (R.I.P Club of virtues of sound manners)

Badry vs Leonardo

For non Egyptian readers Hossam El Badry is the coach of the most successful club in Africa and Egypt, Ahly, my team. Leonardo is an ex Brazilian international who inherited the AC Milan squad in the post Kaka' era. Both men are on their first job as the number one man, their situation carries both common factors and huge difference.

Badry was given the job of managing Egyptian champions Ahly after the board parted ways with legendary coach Manuel Jose. He was Jose's second man for many years and became the first Egyptian coach of the club for a very long time. He had a lot of shoes to fill but he had the champions that boasted a lot of internationals and stars of the Egypt National team. Players like Abu Trieka, Meteb, Gomaa, Fathi, Ahmed Hassan, Moawad and Barakat. Most of these players are on the wrong side of thirty but still showed a lot of hunger. Badry was not building a new team or resurrecting a wounded giant (like Hossam Hassan is doing managing Zamalek). However the local media as always would like to make us think that Badry is tackling an impossible mission with Ahly. They insist that the team needs a major overhaul just because we won the league on the final day of the season. The media here is always behind the local coach. Ahly just drew their latest game after throwing a 2-0 half time advantage due to tactical errors from the coach, who does the media blame? The keeper! Badry has just won 1 game from the last 4 in the second round of the league. Something is wrong and he should not be commended for tackling the impossible because frankly it's not that hard.

Leonardo on the other hand is man thrown straight into the fire. Milan have not won a Scudetto for a very long time and lost their main star in Kaka' to Real Madrid in the summer. Most of the team is past their prime, wrong side of 30 and 35. Plus the management says it does not have enough money to spend. So basically Milan looks in trouble. Prior to the start of the season I thought a UEFA qualification would be an achievement. Leonardo has never had a managerial role before and was still studying for his coaching certificate after his appointment. He had several roles in AC Milan from head scout to Sporting Director. Experience was not on his side. Leonardo was tackling the impossible and not Badry. He had a battered and old squad, no money and no experience. Not to mention media attacks on him.

Badry has changed Ahly's style of play from 3-5-2 to a narrow 4-4-4 (or 4-5-1). He was mostly successful and come mid way through the league he was leading the table. Mind you Ahly's performances left a lot to be desired but we were doing enough to stay ahead of the competition. Ahly had a lot of injuries to deal with and so was forced to field many youth players. Too many though if you ask me. Championship teams give 2-3 youth a chance per season and they don't play them every game. Look at Manchester United. Badry had a chance in the transfer market but bought poorly. Dipping into the market to get players like striker Moudi Fadl who frankly is not up to par. He also bought Ekramy the keeper just as his young goalie was coming into his own. Now he is second choice! He managed though to unearth some good talents while injuries

were a problem none more so than Attacking midfielder Shokry who is a brilliant talent. It worked well for Ahly and the youth performed well. Problems started to arise once the veterans started recovering from injury. All coaches would be happy with that, Badry seemed confused and unsure. In the last 4 games or so he has consistently changed around 5 players from the starting line up each game. Two Sets of Strikers in 2 consecutive games. Then a mixture of the 2 sets, then one striker. Shokry was suddenly benched, Shebeta his favorite was now on the fringes and it seems he has no position for Abdallah Farouk and plays him everywhere just for the sake of playing him. He is too chicken to substitute Ahmed Hassan after the nations cup and suddenly Afroto plays one good game and so he is a must play. Jose never gave a chance to any youths but Badry has turned us into an elementary school. You don't experiment half way thought the season with a championship team. You have your starters and incorporate a few numbers of youth and reserves accordingly. Badry is no longer doing a good job and I guess the Africa Cup of Nations break gave him too much time on his hands. He should be criticized and frankly he did not inherit a difficult task, he made it difficult.

Leonardo knew what was required from his employers. They wanted Milan to play exciting football and Leo responded. He changed the whole look of Milan. He incorporated a 4-3-3 with Ronaldinho on one side Pato on the other and Boriello as a target man. He managed to invigorate Ronaldinho into the player he once was. He has a hunger to him that has been absent for the last 3 years. He has found his touch back and some of his blistering pace in the final third. Ronnie has contributed around 20 assists this season. Leo has instilled confidence in Borriello and he became prolific and integral to Milan's efforts. Ancelotti was always complaining that Borriello was injured and I thought why is crying about an unknown. This season I know why. Borriello scored fantastic goals; he has a sweet touch and is physically strong to bang around in the penalty area. Leonardo has kept the core of the team intact. Only a few new faces are involved. Thiago Silva who has become indispensible, Abbati on occasion, Huntelaar who although rarely starts has scored 6 goals and is always eager for more and Antonini. The rest of the old guard is still there but you would not be able to tell. Ambrosini, Nesta, Pirlo, Gattuso, Seedorf to name a few. Leo has mixed it up perfectly and excited his players to play for him. Yet he is still getting the stick by the media and his employers but as a true professional he continues to work in silence. Yesterday AC Milan managed to beat Fiorentina and go second in Serie A with only 4 points behind Inter, who would have though. Don't be surprised if Milan pulls out the impossible at Old Trafford. Leonardo has shown how to turn the impossible into the possible. Mr. Badry can learn a thing or two about having your back to the wall. He has lived in an illusion created by the media until it had become a reality. He better snap out of it or else Ahly will throw away the league.