Category Archives: Sports

Just an Egyptian Football Game

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Egyptian football teams have taken their rivalry to a whole new level. In fact, this level that Egyptian football and sports has reached is probably new to mankind. Give it to the Egyptians, still breaking boundaries 4000 years later.

Except unlike the pyramids and other monuments the Egyptians can be proud of, this is something that is of such a magnitude you’d think it’s straight out of a horror movie.
Soon after Egyptian football team Al-Masry won over Al-Ahly (for the record, I had never heard of the former and only heard of the latter because of its constant rivalry with Al Zamalek), the supporters of the former invaded the stadium in celebrations. The fireworks they fired led to a massive fire.

Police were nowhere to be found – probably still busy checking women’s hymens in Tahrir. As a result, over 73 people died because of a football game. Some had been found with stab wounds, obviously murdered.

I am a fan of football but this is not football. This is not sports, this is not something you can politically explain, as some people had suggested as it being a remnant of the former Mubarak regime because, simply put, this will not change the dismal state of politics Egypt has gotten itself into. This is not something you can really describe and find any words to without sounding absolutely cliche.

I’m not sure what measures the current Egyptian authorities will undertake. But if it were me, I’d suspend the whole football premiere league, enforce sanctions on both teams and start hording people left and right in jail.

73 people dead…. One can simply summarize this in one phrase. Football excitement level: Egyptian.

Manchester United Fail!


I am a big football fan (not the American one, the regular international one). I do not follow every single thing related to it simply because I get way over excited, especially when it comes to teams I care about.

For instance, in Euro 2008, when Italy was playing Spain in the quarter finals and Buffon blocked a penalty shot, I shouted so loud in the restaurant that the owner still remembers me. Yes, I support the Azzurri. Another instance that comes to mind was the game Germany vs Argentina in the latest World Cup’s quarter finals. I wasn’t originally a supporter of either team but I decided to root for Argentina – and ended up doing so more vigorously than the original Argentina supporters present.

So I do understand how the game works and when a team doesn’t play well. I do understand most of the technicalities as well and after tonight, I know most of the players as well – even for teams I don’t root for. I mean, one glance at a substitute and I blurted out his name. Awesome, no?

So the Champions League Finale was on yesterday and it set Barcelona against Manchester United. I had no idea how the odds for each team stacked up but I honestly dislike Barcelona (the team, not the city) so I decided to root for Manchester United instead. Glory, glory Manchester United, right? Absolutely not, apparently. It should have been “pity, pity Manchester United instead”.

I was so horrified by how bad they played that it wasn’t even funny. The only goal they got in was due to a mistake from the other team and it wasn’t even a stellar goal for you to think that lots of work was put into it. Their possession of the ball was 33% and they got only 3 shots the whole game.

On the other hand, Barca had a 67% and had more than 15 shots, 3 of which resulted in goals. See? I’m not always biased. I give credit where credit is due – although I still think they’re not the best team in the world and I vehemently do not approve of the notion that Messi is the football incarnation of God.

So yeah, for all matters and purposes, Manchester United were a big failure tonight. They were absolutely atrocious. Their first half was less than stellar but it kept them in the game. The second half, however, was a disaster. You can’t even begin to fathom how bad it was! When the only team you see playing is the other team, dear Manchester United, you should maybe get a hint to pick up your game? Or maybe it was that the players had enough money and not enough motivation? Either way, I almost felt shame for deciding to root for them. Even more ashamed than the time I supported Argentina in that quarter final and they lost 4-0. At least back then I was more involved and therefore more pissed off than able to see how bad Argentina really was. And yeah, they were worse.