Egyptian football fan’s diaries in Ramadan

Today is the first day of Ramadan in Egypt so, while waiting the long hours before Iftar, I thought of writing this post to share with you Ramadan’s Rituals in Egypt as well as thoughts on the upcoming game against Rwanda.

If you have been to Cairo lately, then you surely should have noticed the extraordinary heat we are experiencing around here; with such weather a decision to leave home and descend to the streets, taking the metro, taxi or even strolling should be well researched and cost/benefit ratio must be seriously considered before taking the decision; in other words, if it isn’t work or an emergency, simply stay at home, open your AC and read Egypt WCB 

Driving your car is not a so wise decision because before iftar, Cairo looks like this

However, during Iftar time, this is the best time you can enjoy Cairo (take a look)

So, if you already bought your lanterns (fawanees) and Ramadan’s yameesh then you are ready to enjoy the month, the Egyptian way; having Iftars with friends and family is a special experience as some people mayn’t see each other except from Ramadan to Ramadan.

At night, the time when Cairo lightens up with thousands of colorful decorations covering the streets as lights coming from mosques celebrating the holy month creates a cheerful and very favorable atmosphere.

However, you have two choices; either to go out to the streets spend your nights with friends at any of Cairo’s numerous cafes preparing for this month each in its own special way and stay up for sohoor late at night at a local foul restaurant or a fancy hotel with a more varied menu; or you can simply stay at home enjoy a family atmosphere watching TV that shows tens of soap operas, talk shows, sitcoms and many more interesting material and grab a bite of Ramdan’s tasty deserts (konafa and qatayf) but be careful, don’t eat a lot because your weight will increase maybe 5 – 10 Kgs and your cholesterol will skyrocket.

Another option is to follow the local football league which is starting to be really exciting and unpredictable with some very unexpected results.

Anyway, while spending time doing your charity and distributing food and presents to the underprivileged, remember to pray for the national team getting ready for the world cup qualifier against Rwanda later in September.

Speaking about Rwanda, they aren’t taking any chances as the game is crucial for them in order to qualify to the African cup in Angola so they entered a closed preparation camp from now till the date of the match.

On the Egyptian side, the least I can say is that it isn’t the perfect conditions that Shehata was waiting for; missing key players either for childish behaviors or pathetic form.

Our preparation camp starts on the 26th of august, immediately after third week’s games, then the players will fly in a private jet to Rwanda on 3rd of September and return the next day after the game.

Zidan was excluded from the game after he failed to show up at the last friendly against Guinea saying he is injured although playing two days later with his team; then it was said that he broke up with his fiancée so he was in a bad mood….it isn’t the matter of playing against guinea; the question is why did he close his mobile phones becoming unreachable, why didn’t he just inform Shehata with the situation?

Is this the right time to do something like this? Can he do this with his club?!!

Unfortunately, Zidan won’t be the only one missing; beside Meteb’s injury, Mido is a possible option; however, his missed penalty in his debut with Zamalek against Petrojet and his overweight mayn’t encourage Shehata to call him.

Also Zaki is out of form, he seems to be busy with something else while playing, I mean he isn’t playing for football; that was reflected in some stupid statements begging English clubs to give him another chance to prove his worth…what? Seriously?… how unprofessional is that!!!

With all these absences in attack line, player like Sayed Hamdy and Ahmed Raouf are quickly gaining trust and confidence from the technical staff of the national team; especially, after they continued to impress lately.

We have to mention; however, that the return of Shikabala is a strong boost to the team; especially with his current outstanding form. Shehata might then change his attacking tactics by playing with one striker and 2 play makers behind him Shikabala and Abu Terika in this case.

In goalkeeping, El Hadary isn’t impressive any more; did anyone notice that he doesn’t keep a clean sheet anymore, every match he concedes one or 2 goals at least!!!

In midfield, rises the problem of Hosni and Shawky.

Shawky is no more part of Middlesbrough’s plans, every game he is out of the roster; however, Shehata insists on putting him in the starting eleven every game; on the other hand, Hosni is still out of form simply because the season in UAE won’t start until after Eid.

Alternatives are El Merghany from Zamalek, Ahmed Khairy from Ismaily , Hommos…etc but certainly not Ahmed Hassan!!

All these problems need to be solved before 5/9 because we desperately need the 3 points.

so let’s just hope that Madfa3 el Iftar hits soon so that one can e busy eating!!

That’s all for now; share your thoughts on Ramadan and Rwanda’s game

Ramadan Kareem we kol sana we ento taybeen!!