Black Saturday

I have not been active on my blog for sometime, ever since the revolution broke out in my country of Egypt I seem to have lost my footballing appetite. Yesterday was a disastrous day for Egyptian Sport in general and Football in particular. Thousands of Zamalek fans invaded the pitch with minutes to spare during their game against Al Afreeky (Club Africa) of Tunisia. Zamalek where on their way to getting knocked out and then all hell broke loose...

Check the video below...There are some graphic scenes

I am lost for words to describe this chaos. In my opinion this was no ordinary mob of angry fans, but I'm not going to talk about politics here as I hope this blog continues to remain 100 percent sports related (with the odd movie here and there). However here is food for thought:

In my 30 years of watching football in Egypt I have never seen such scenes not even in the most violent of Cairo derbies. In my experience Egyptian fans when they start getting angry or feel injustice proceed to do the following:

Step 1- Hurl vocal abuse towards the referee

Step 2- Start throwing objects from stones to water bottles to anything they can get their hands on onto the pitch

Step 3- Possibly engage with opposition fans by verbal abuse and or throwing stuff at them too

Step 4- Start destroying their surrounding from chairs and such and possibly start using these objects as projectiles to hurl at opposition players and fans

Step5 - The might try to invade the pith but they usually are unable to..

I have never seen fans in this country skip all these steps and proceed to step 5 and succeed with out barriers to stop them. Not only that, they reached step 5 armed with weapons and clubs. Made me feel they were ready for this. I had never seen prior to yesterday in Egypt:

1- Fans Assault their own players

2- Fans assault their club manager and staff

3- Sections of the Angry mob proceed to protect other team players and the referee??

4- Fans attack their own fans in the stadium

More food for though:

Where was the stadium security?

Why was it so easy to invade the pitch? The security gates were easily opened during the game, how?

Why did this not happen in the Ahly game vs Supersport, or the Ismailly game were the stadium was packed. Playing a Tunisian team is much more high profile I guess.

Why was there no security to check that people had nothing on them? That's ABC stadium security

Whats the whole thing bout fans coming to stadium at 10am (game was at 6pm) and they refused to leave ?

Some one should be held accountable for allowing this invasion and permitting fans to enter the stadium with such weapons. There is enough video evidence to make hundreds of arrests. It should be examined carefully. Athletes were assaulted, sportsmen whose job is to entertain were beaten up and made to fear for their life. This is UNACCEPTABLE! My condolences and sincerest apologies go out to our Tunisian brothers

There had to be some footballing factors as well. Ibrahim Hassan's comments prior to the game in response to some Tunisian fans invading the pitch with Egypt/Tunisia flags in the first leg had to insight many fans. He more or less suggested that fans should come onto the pitch in Egypt. However I've heard the recording and the accusation that this was the real cause seems shady at best, although I truly despise this guy for his attitude and ignorant comments.

The referee overturning an injury time goal could have been a real factor, however there were 3 minutes left to go, so the game was not over yet...how about you wait till it ends then go down?

Again how was it that easy to get onto the pitch...

In my opinion Zamalek will be crucified for the lack of security for this game and deservedly so. I would think 5years ban from African competition would be fair. If Zamalek felt there was a security risk then the game should have never happened. I think the impact over all will be huge on football in Egypt. Probably Ahly will not be able to continue playing in this competition. Who would want to play in Cairo stadium again and frankly who could blame them? If the police can't handle stadium security at the moment and I don't blame them, football should be stopped for the foreseeable future.

People will say clubs will go bankrupt...I say let them go bankrupt, the footballing industry is one of the most shady and corrupt organizations in the country and public resources are thrown down the drain everyday.

To Zamalek fans not involved in these appalling scenes. You should be proud of your players who stood side by side with their Tunisian brothers and tried to protect them. Some even took blows for them. Even the Hassan brothers (who I despise) deserve credit for their efforts in trying to protect Tunisian players. Also be proud of your fans who tried to protect both.

To all the thugs that caused these scenes. I call on the army and the police to hunt you down. Your faces are all over TV. You should be prosecuted and given the maximum punishment because I am ashamed to be affiliated with you in any shape or form.

To Tunis and Tunisians. The scenes I saw yesterday made me angry and disgusted so I can only imagine how it made you feel. I can apologize for all Egyptians from here to eternity and it would not be enough. Our deepest sorrow and condolences go out to the players and their families for what they had to go through. Our promise goes out to all of Tunisia that we will find those who were responsible and will bring them to justice.

Egypt and Tunisia are forever bound in revolution. You had been an inspiration to our country in it's quest for freedom. What has been bound in blood cannot be broken by the mere actions of a few who would aim to brake this feeling of solidarity.

Please forgive us Tunisia

Andy Gray & Richard Keys Laughing At Women's Football

Talking about Andy gray making sexist comments about the the female linesman in the Liverpool vs Wolves game is grabbing a lot of news in the past couple of days. He's been doing that for a long time apparently, but frankly who can blame him after watching this! Saw it while reading early doors!

Boys to Men

Yesterday it has officially happened. The Arsenal so called boys are now men. Arsenal yesterday took apart Chelsea for the first time in a very long time. Full Time score, Arsenal 3 Chelsea 1

Being an Arsenal fan I have been through a lot since starting to support them. Mind you I have not been an Arsenal fan for a long time. It's been around 6 or 7 years and considering I've supported Ahly all my life and AC Milan since the early 90's it is brand new. I have yet to see them lift a trophy as a full fledged supporter and a club member. The closest I've come was the League Cup final when our reserve team lost to Chelsea's full team 2-1 (can't recall the year) and the Champions League final against Barca. Year after year I saw us fail to reach our true potential. Year after year I saw critics pounce on the Wenger and Arsenal philosophy. We need to buy ready made stars, nurturing youth is not working, we need to spend big in the market. Wenger had said no to all of this and yesterday at last he had something to smile about.

It was not just the fact that we beat Chelsea that was pleasing, it was the way we did it. Yes Chelsea are not on form but on any given day a team that has the likes of Cech, Terry, Essein, (Lampard) and Drogba is a force to be reckoned with. Wenger was gutsy to decided to shuffle things around. Tactically we did not change how we line up but the players involved were put there for Chelsea. Wenger played it right. Obviously Cesc and Fabianski back to the starting line up was a no brainer. In my opinion if Cesc is fit he should not leave the pitch. He is this kind of player, he can conjure up something out of nothing. His presence lifts the people around him. He is still lacking form, too many miss passes by his standards but then all of a sudden the killer pass or killer run and no one remembers his short comings. Yesterday he scored a goal and made one, what else could you ask for?

Playing Walcott was a surprise for me. He was not getting enough minutes and was not on that great of a run, form wise. It seems that Arsene has had enough with Arshavin, frankly I'm starting to get annoyed too. He is not putting in enough effort and seems uninterested at parts. He is a world class player talent wise but world class players show up every game, not every other game or when they feel like it! Theo was there for a reason. To keep Ashley Cole lodged back and to frighten the some what slow Chelsea center backs. In the first half he was not great but he did keep Cole at bay. Ashley never ventured forward. The second half he got room to run behind Cole and the Chelsea defense thanks to some excellent midfield pressure (our midfield was fantastic but I'll come to that later) and he ripped them apart. First laying off unselfishly a tap in for Fabregas and then finishing off brilliantly after being put through by the Fabregas via a killer through ball.

The real surprise from me was the central defense paring of Djourou and Koscielny. I think Djourou should be a starter, hes been fantastic and gives much needed height to our defense. I'm not sure if there was something wrong with Squillaci but Wenger saw that Djourou must be better equipped to deal with physical presence of Drogba. He was right and Djourou was very solid in containing the Drogs. Koscielny was there probably to add some pace to the core because frankly I'm still not convinced by him, although I think he was very good in the last two games vs top opposition. It is against the Stokes and the Birminghams that he is still prone to errors but in his defense he is still adjusting to the league.

The center midfield paring of Song and Wilshere were phenomenal and they were one of the main reasons we won that game. For once we bossed around the midfield. They dominated Essein, Mikel and Lampard who on paper should eat them alive. Wilshere who is still a boy was a titan and Song did his new job (scored a goal) and kept true to his main role as a destroyer. They out played, out passed, out ran, out muscled and out scored Chelsea!

Overall Arsenal was better. We dictated the pace of the game and were more aggressive. Also and more importantly we won most of the duels and 2 of these lead to goals. Van Persie gives something different to the team than Chamakh. He has a softer touch so easily maintains the rhythm and seems to know the other player more. He also adds a fear factor when in the team. Chamakh has been excellent and is a truly wonderful signing but on his day I would pick RVP over him. However Chamakh will get there and having a bench that includes him, Arshavin, Diaby, Bendtner and Rosicky shows us that for once we have a very strong overall squad. There is also Vermaelen still missing due to injury and if he plays with Djourou I think we will leak less goals. I am ecstatic however not to be seeing Almunia and frankly I wish I never have to see him again. I have to mention Nasri, although he was not a goal scorer he has been our player of the season thus far and possibly the best player in the league. It is good for him to be able to share the weight of the team with Theo, Cesc and RVP. Sagna too has been excellent but for me our weakest link has to be Clichy. He is not as good going forward and defensively he seems to be playing football for the first time. He has no sense of danger and that is a huge problem for a defender, the goal Clark scored for Villa will always be proof of that.

This win however will mean nothing if we go and lose to Wigan on Wednesday. We need to be consistent and although I'm pessimistic about actually winning the league I am hopeful. I think we should win the league cup at least this season to get the "not winning trophies monkey" off our backs and off the back of the players.

Most of all I am happy for Arsene Wenger. He has had to put up with criticism from every one and to defend his players and the club philosophy day in and day out. I'm looking forward to playing Evra the clown at the Emirates and watch Theo rip him to shreds like he did Cole

Come on Arsenal!

For Love of the Game

This is a truly inspiring story by BBC's resident blogger Tim Vickery. He is an expert on South American Football.

This takes place in the Peruvian League. It is a must read piece about the true sole of football.

Winning is not Everything

Arsenal's Christmas Card...Very Funny!

To all Gooners or non Gooners

The Arsenal X-Mas Greeting!

Check it out LOL


Here

Ibrahimovic's Greatest Goal

To all Milan fans out there..This is probably Ibra's best ever goal and one of the best I have ever seen. I couldn't keep up with him the first time round

Forza Milan and Enjoy

The Biggest miss in the history of football!

When I saw this last Wednesday I could not believe my eyes and frankly had a lot of trouble keeping a straight face. It was Qatar vs Uzbekistan in the Asian games!

Full Time score?

Qatar 0 Uzbekistan 1

The Culprit: 18 year old Fahd Khlafan

Qatar got knocked out of the Asian Games!

The most Ridiculous Dive Ever

This is insane can't believe it's been given

Thanks to my dear friend Dr. Firas for sharing this

The Price We must Pay!

Yesterday Egypt was shocked by a 1-0 defeat to Niger in Niamey and now lay bottom of Group G with 1 point from 2 games in CAN 2012 qualifiers. Myself and a few others I have talked with were not!

It is common knowledge for anyone who knows me or has ever read this blog that I am no fan of Hassan Shehata, Egypt's coach. However, his technical inadequacy aside, he has done an unbelievable job by leading Egypt to winning 3 consecutive Nations Cups. A feat unlikely to be rivaled for sometime to come. His major let down was his inability to take us to the World Cup in virtually the easiest Group around, but for some stroke of luck he was made a hero due circumstances surrounding the match with Algeria.

Love him or hate him, it's time for Shehata to go and for Egypt to move on. Not because of his inability to change games but because he has nothing to offer the team anymore. Yes I will always stick by the notion that he was never a coach or a tactician, only a motivator who happened to be lucky enough to lead the greatest ever footballing generation in Egypt. He did win stuff but what is happening now? Where did it all go wrong?

For me it seems he has become too arrogant for his own good. This was pointed out to me by a friend of my father's after the Sierra Leone game. He was spot on. In football as a coach it's OK to be arrogant. Look at Jose Mourinho, one of the most talented and successful coaches in a generation. He is so full of himself, you either love him or hate him, nothing in between. Manuel Jose arguably Ahly's greatest coach was arrogant too. Just ask any Zamalek fan or other Egyptian coaches! The difference between these men and Shehata is that for starters they had ability and more importantly never lost touch with the real reason they win....their players!

A coach is nothing without his players and the greatest managers like Sir Alex Ferguson are the ones who can get the best out of their players and keep them motivated so they can produce what they requires from them!

Shehata lost the plot. He was arrogant enough to think that by fielding a weakened inexperienced Egypt side against Sierra Leone he would still win. He was full of himself that he did not even care to study up on the strengths of the opposition. It seemed in Cairo we were playing a team from mars that we had no idea about. He also decided to change the formation that has brought him and Egypt huge success, 3-5-2 for some sort of a 4-4-2 with two very slow central defenders and ultimately paid the price. His arrogance did not stop here. After his medical staff deemed Amr Zaki and Shikabala unfit and they were dropped form the Egypt squad for a friendly. Hassan Shehata was incensed that 2 days later they were playing for their club Zamalek in the league, so he decided to drop them for the Leone game. His staff deemed them unfit yet he was mad at them?

Against Niger he continued his new trend. He again was clueless about the opposition and again decided to go for some sort of a 4-4-2 that was unsuccessful before! Captain Hassan seems to forget that football is not chess and it is not how you place players on the field that decides if you are attacking or defending, it's what you say to the players and the roles they are given that decides that. A 4-5-1 formation on paper looks very defensive but can be enthralling if turned to a 4-3-3 going forward. A formation is nothing but a number.

His selections were a bit weird with Abdel Fadil as right back for example. Sherif is a fantastic player but he has very limited international experience. With Abdel Shafy the left back it was the same way. A great player with limited experience. He continued not to select Egypt's greatest central midfielder Hossam Ashour because I think he deems him bad luck. (The only game he played under Shehata Egypt lost 4-1 or 4-0 in friendly vs Sudan). Regardless he lost the game and failed to control or influence the match form the touch line.

People automatically blame the players and the fact we need to inject new life into the squad and so on. This may be true and I agree the players have to share a part of the blame. Shehata tried to inject younger blood into the squad but possibly too soon. I do have another theory why the old guard is not performing well enough.

I said earlier that the players mainly won games for Shehata. The players were mainly from Ahly. OK Zamalek fans will automatically start arguing about this, but come on lets be realistic. In 2006 the squad had 7 out of 11 starters from Ahly. Hadary, Gomaa, Barakat, Abdel Wahab (R.I.P) Shawky, Abu Trieka and Meteb. In 2008 and 2010 it was a similar story. The Ahly players were living a golden age under Manuel Jose. Say what you like but Jose's influence on our victory's is not to be denied! He had instilled a winning mentality in his teams that was transferred with them when they played for their country. Even Zamalek, although not winning anything had decent coaches.

Take a look at things now. Look at both Ahly and Zamalek. They are playing extremely poorly. The main reason for Egypt's drop in form...."Al Hossamayen" or the Hossam's. Hossam El Badry and Hossam Hassan more so Badry. They have turned their teams into regular Joe teams. They are no longer the giants they once were. The Ahly players seem to play without purpose and when Moudy Fadl leads the line of Ahly and Egypt you know something is wrong. Both Ahly and Zamalek players are low on confidence and form

The end result in my opinion is that it seems extremely unlikely we are to qualify for the 2012 Africa Nations Cup and due to the new qualification system for 2013 we might find it very difficult to reach it either. On the up side if Shehata doesn't know when to quit like the likes of Algeria's Sadaan did and all respectable coaches do, Franz Beckenbauer left Germany after successive World Cup finals, the second of which he won.(but then again would you quit if you were making L.E 200,000, 30,000USD per month?). The Egyptian Federation should act and let him go and start right away looking for a well known foreign coach with a free hand to lead us to Brazil 2014. Shehata has done well for Egypt but it's time to move on, after all maybe this is a blessing in disguise and we can finally see Egypt in a World Cup!

The Hardest Man in Football?

Just finished reading this article by Early Doors on Eurosport about Roberto Mancini, excellent stuff...

Give it a look here

The punch line...."And with that Mancini got up, smashed a chair over a journalist's head and stormed out of the room."

LOL

Random News

I've been away for the last month or so mainly due to Ramadan. Frankly it's difficult enough to work let alone blog as well. Hopefully now I can be more active.

I thought I'd start off with some random local and international news.

Apparently Roma's former first choice keeper Doni was the one to recommend the man who replaced him, current number one Julio Sergio, to the club. Doni is now the third choice keeper. I guess that's why they say silence is golden.

Zamalek technical director or whatever the translation of "Modeer Kora" is, Ibrahim Hassan has discovered the reason for his teams poor run of results. Black Magic. No it's not a typo, he believes a scratch in the wall of the clubs changing room revealed incantations of some sort. Yeah that makes perfect sense. The outrageous answer would be that his brother, Egyptian Legend Hossam Hassan, the manager of Zamalek sucks.

On the other hand Hossam Hassan blamed the referee and his players. He also proceeded to blame Israel, Global Warming and the Panda:P

Yesterday's Champions League game between Real Madrid and Ajax was entertaining enough with Madrid grabbing a deserved 2-0 win thanks to Higauin. What was shocking however was the status of the pitch. For those of you who don't know Real Madrid had recently captured the groundsman of Arsenal for a substantial fee. He is hailed to be one of the best around. I guess there might be a job opening at Madrid if the pitch continues to look like that. Check out Paul Burgess's story here

Egypt's Assistant coach Shawky Ghareeb admitted that there were selection mistakes following Egypt's humiliating draw with Sierra Leone in Cairo. Finally, I thought. An Egyptian owning up to his mistakes... he then followed by blaming the players lack of fitness. There you go that's better.

It was never really Shawky or Hassan Shehata's fault it was the player fitness. At the end of the season it's exhaustion, away from home it's the referee or the pitch and when all else fails blame Algeria.

Speaking of Algeria. Rabeh Sadaan resigned as coach of Algeria following a similar humiliating draw vs Tanzania at home. The man who beat Hassan Shehata to send his country to the World Cup admitted he had nothing more to offer and resigned. I bet I'd die before I see a government employee of any kind resign let alone Egypt's national coach. Then again why would he. He is getting paid more than 100 Thousand Egyptians pounds a month and does not even care enough to attend league games. He actually watches them on the tele!

How do I know? He said so. A couple of months back the National team staff refrained from adding new players to a player gathering because a lot of the games were not aired on TV....duh!

According to a friend of mine the mystery regarding AC Milan's spending spree is out in the open. Berlusconi after selling the Van Gogh "Poppy Flower" painting reportedly worth 55 million dollars (Stolen from Egypt last month) can now afford to buy players for Milan again. God Bless you Minister Farouk Hosny and your broken 50 dollar security cameras. Forza Milan!

Finally I would like to congratulate Zamalek fans on the upcoming return of Mortada

Mansour. God Bless him.

Probably the Worst TV Interview Ever

Thiery Henry is getting interviewed in a New York morning show after joining the MLS's New York Red Bulls

Hats off to Henry for Keeping his cool with these clowns interviewing him!

Sorry Carlo

I cannot say I was not happy to see Ancelotti leave AC Milan at the end of last season. He had been at the San Siro for 8 years. He has won many trophies with Milan. 2 Champions League wins, 1 Coppa Italia, Italian Super Cup, UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup, but with 1 Scudetto win in 8 nine years it was surely time to change.

I had grown tired of his unchanging ways and how it seemed he let his squad turn stagnant. Milan have become very predictable and frankly boring under Carlo. He seemed to be relying too much on Kaka'. Don't get me wrong with a player like Kaka' you would be foolish not have him as the centre of your team but at times during the last couple of years it seemed that we won only if Kaka was playing well! He also had a knack for acquiring over aged players. Favalli, Oddo to name a few. Since Kaka joined Milan, they have failed to acquire a single world class player. Gourcuff the obvious exception but they chased him out of San Siro. I blamed Ancelotti for everything. Things weren't always that way between me and Carlo though. He had the vision to change Pirlo from an attacking midfielder outcast at Inter to the world class player he is today. He also transformed the career of Seedorf who is now forever a legend in the Milan ranks. He made Kaka'. He played him straight from Brazil into the Milan first team. In my eyes he had left the team in shambles. I was wrong.

After seeing Milan this season and how Galliani and Berlusconi are running the club. Most noticeably their transfer policy and how they gave nothing to Leonardo to work with. I started feeling sympathy fro Ancelotti. How in gods name was he able to work with the two of them for so long? It is obvious to me now that there was no money to spend and Carlo had to make due with what was available. It seems to me now that he was actually more of a genius than I had thought. He deserved much more credit than I ever gave him. He was an underachiever in my book for years, but it turns out he is actually a great over achiever. With no money to spend it seemed he was very shrude in acquiring the out of contract and older players. He knew they could give him something for the short term. He kept star players happy for a very long time although it seemed they had a lot to feel disgruntled about. He was able to deal with Berlusconi for 8 years which is a trophy in itself. He was not without fault though. He alienated Gourcuff, one of the most talented young players in a generation. He gave too much control to Galliani in acquiring players, most noticeably Ronaldinho who it seemed Carlo was not convinced with. Regardless of everything I think I owe him an apology, not that he will ever read this:). Carlo's experience in Milan became an invaluable tool at Chelsea.

Ancelotti's appointment as Chelsea manager was met with some skepticism. After all a lot of people saw what I was previously talking about. The fair conclusion was made that being a Champions League ace, he was hired to bring European glory to the blues. He didn't. I recall the amount of abuse that was thrown Carlo's way once beaten by Mourniho's Inter at Stamford Bridge and again after losing at home to City. Ancelotti is a clam and collected man with an abundance of experience when dealing with star studded squads (Milan had a star studded squad once upon a time) and interfering presidents. In a turbulent season filled with ups and downs Carlo Ancelotti proved an invaluable asset. He was able to keep his squad together and lift them up time and time again even when players had more problems off the pitch than on it. He reinvigorated Malouda and turned him into the world beater he originally was tipped to be. Even when missing key players his tactical ability and depth in squad made him cruise by. Make no mistake Chelsea were the best team in the league this season. They did not win the Premier League because other teams were less consistent and going through a rough patch, mainly Manchester United. The Barclay's Premier League has become tougher than ever. As a result the so called big four don't get to enjoy the jolly rides they were accustomed to, just ask Liverpool. Carlo's Chelsea over came this in style. They destroyed their counterparts in the top four club beating Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool home and away. Chelsea won the league by playing record breaking attacking football. 103 goals in 1 season is a marvelous achievement. They put 7 past opposition three times and 8 on the final day of the season to clinch the title. Carlo Ancelotti has proved to be the man for the long haul, unaffected by setbacks through out the season and focused on the end game. Next Saturday Chelsea play Portsmouth in the FA Cup final, were Carlo Ancelotti has a chance to earn them an unprecedented double. Although a Pompey victory would be stuff of legend, I do feel Chelsea will win this. The days of the special one are now but a distant memory.