Egyptian Wonderkids

Egypt U-20 Unearthed Some Gems in the World Cup
As we’ve all come to notice, our magnificent Egyptian squad is sadly ageing… Legendary players such as Wael Gomaa, Ahmed Hassan, Mohamed Abu-Treika, Essam el Hadary, Mohamed Barakat and Abdelzaher el Sakka are well over the wrong side of thrity and are unfortunately fast approaching they’re expiry date. With the exception of Wael Gomaa and Mohamed Barakat, these players have been in steady decline ever since the African Cup of Nations triumph in January.
But as one talent extinguishes, another one arises. This article is simply an informative article highlighting the brightest talents coming through the youth ranks all round the country.
Shehab El-Din Ahmed:

Shehab currently starts for Ahly
Born on the 22nd of August 1990, Shehab, central midfielder, first broke onto the scene in the U-20 World Cup hosted by our very own Egypt. Shehab took part in all the matches but did not steal the spotlight until later when he started playing and scoring for Ahly. Shehab has just recently booked his place in the starting eleven of Ahly with a last gasp winner against Ittihad from neighbouring Libya.
Ahmed Shoukri:

Shoukri, Immediate Impact
Born on the 7th of July, 1989 Ahmed Shoukri, attacking midfielder, made his first appearence on national television with a wonderful performance at the U-20 World Cup against the mighty Italians. Shourki had missed the first 2 group matches against Trinidad & Tobago and Paraguay due to suspension but wasted no time introducing himself to Egyptians by scoring 2 excellent goals. Ahmed Shoukri has been ever present in Ahly’s starting lineup throughout the season scoring three goals. Video created by IMscouting.com for Ahmed Shoukri.
Mostafa Selim (Afroto):

Afroto scores against Trinidad & Tobage
Born on the 17th of March 1989, Afroto (which means little genie in Egyptian), attacking midfielder, first left his mark in the U-20 World Cup. Afroto scored the opening goal of the tournament with an amazing solo run going past the whole Trinidad & Tobago defence before slotting the ball past the keeper. Afroto later made his debut for Ahly against Ittihad Shorta in the league scoring 2 goals and providing an assist in just 45 minutes. Afroto is by far the most talented player coming through the youth ranks all over Egypt but is well known for not being the most disciplined of players. Nice compilation here.
Alaa Ali:

The skillful Alaa Ali
Born on the 28th of January 1988, Zamalek’s very own wonderkid. Alaa Ali, attacking midfielder, started appearing for Zamalek at the run-in of the 2008/2009 season when everything was going wrong them. Alaa Ali was one of the few bright spots for Zamalek in that season as he starred in several matches. Alaa Ali has a sweet left foot as displayed here and is well known for his exceptionally close ball control and dribbling.
Hazem Emam:

The New Hazem Emam
Born on the 30th of November 1988, Hazem Emam, right full back, is an outstanding player in Zamalek who has the same name of the famous Zamalek playmaker Hazem Emam. The new Hazem Emam plays as a right back for Zamalek and has the potential to be a leading star for the Egyptian national team in the near future. Unfortunately though, as so many before him, Hazem is not so disciplined and it could lead to his demise if he does not work on improving it. Two incidents spring to mind, first his spat with Ahmed Hassan in his first Ahly-Zamalek Derby, for which he apologized later. The second is his infamous rant during Zamalek’s match vs Ittihad Shorta in the league which landed him a 10 match ban. Obligatory youtube clip here.
Other Young Gems To Keep An Eye On:
Saad Samir, Mostafa Talaat, Ahmed Nabil “Manga”, Mahmoud Touba, Hesham Mohamed (Ahly)
Omar Gaber, Ibrahim Salah, Weah, Ahmed Fathy “Boogy” (Zamalek)
Ahmed Hegazy, Ahmed Khairy, Abdelhamid Samy (Ismaily)
Mostafa Galal, Mohie-El-Deen el-Khouly, Mostafa Hassan (ENPPI)
Moamen Zakaria (Entag Harby)
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Would it be safe to say that this was the best performance from an African team so far in this world cup?
Kazi it was up there with Ghana win and ivory coasts draw….
Uthman if you had a striker you would have definitely won the game
Posted from
United States
I love this quote from the redcafe.net forum
What’s happening? Every Algerian player on the pitch look technically a level above any england player on the pitch: including Rooney. They are far more comfortable with and on the ball.
Rooney especially is disapponting with his touches and slow, sluggish, ungainly looking footwork and movement… he’s having trouble controlling a football, never mind creating the ‘magic’ he’s supposed to possess.
Looks a pub player today. Fecking Algerians must be thinking wtf these players are earning 200 times their wages.
the F…… WERE TAKING so much junk yesterday.
Rooney was he even there….. Algeria defence made England look like rowanda …. They couldn’t pass they couldn’t shoot even when they had the ball in front if the goal it was like they were confused as if they hadn’t played with each other before…… They looked slow and tired…
Well done Algeria …. If england found score on you I know the USA can’t score on you….. If you can just manage an attack I think your team has major confidence now and will easily beat the USA
As I have always said the USA has no talent they are just very well conditioned that’s why they always score late when they tire you out. ……
You are right Bahaa,
i want them to beat the US SO BAD, but as long as they play like today they are good in my book.
Wow, Algerian team, it’s about time..but still need to focus on scoring. I called a draw and I am happy with it. Thanks for all the support guys, hopefully we will make all arabs look good..Inshallah
quick one…thx ya shabab for the kind words. tonite algeria won MBOLHI!!!! I think he easily landed his MU contract. the complete opposite of chaouchi as far as concentration and display
every player was very good. a special note to yebda indeed as well as the defence trio. esp. bougherra. how many times have u hear rooneys name? only when capello asked him to shift back a bit. england finished the game with 3 strikers!
even matmour did what he had to do. ran a lot, moved well and provided free kicks.
Im proud tonite and crying over the stupid loss to slovenia.
its still possible. esp. that the yanks were unimpressive this afternoon
hey… and no yellow cards for algerians. they were 10/10 as far as concentration!
Great work Algeria. The weakness of this team is goalscoring but I truly think they can exploit the US defense. 1 goal should be enough with a defense like Algerias. Praying that they make it through with Slovenia so I can laugh so hard! Congrats on the result. You deserved more
Insha Allah we’ll beat USA to ensure our end of the deal to progress. And you know what’s the funny thing, England ended the match with 3 strikers, Algeria ended it with none and still looked more offensively dangerous. Alhamdoulillah for the result last night, if we can carry it on throughout the tournament we should do Algeria, Arabs and Africans proud insha Allah.
This is a strange world cup…. Germany looks like a world beater in the first game and stnks in the second…. Argentina barely beat Nigeria then destroys northkorea. Korea destroys Greece then Greece beat Nigeria brazil struggles with north Korea Slovenia and Algeria look like crap in the first game they both look good the second game England looks like crap in both games the USA looks like crap in the first half and destroy Slovenia in the second half they got robbed by the third goal by the way but we’ll take it lol… Hany we would have won this group easily with 9 points and gone far talk about wasted opportunity… The quality of play so far is terrible to inconsistent….. All the African teams combined in 8 games so far have scored a grand total of 3 goals one was a penalty the other was in a loss….. This is a strange world cup.
Posted from
United States
Terrible result….. Inconsistency is the word for this world cup…..
Posted from
United States
Bahaa,
“Hany we would have won this group easily with 9 points and gone far talk about wasted opportunity… ”
I love you man, but still think you are delusional, when it comes to Egypt and football.
I am not going to go into details. Having said that, i still think Egypt is when of the best teams in Africa.
one*
ok dudes. I’ll be offline for the next 2 days as I will be in OM DORMAN for work.
back on tuesday and getting ready for wednesday.
duh… during the numerous jazeera cuts I didnt see Lacens booking. apologies for last nites post about zero yellow cards.
the only thing I know now; is that BRADLEY’S BRAIN IS FULL ON WORKING AT THE MOMENT!
bossa le a7la shabab
LOL Nazim….
I know you disagree…LOL. thank you for the polite and respectful way you disagree.
Nazim i think you are a great guy and it was pleasure meeting you and your brother. Inshalla i think we can be good friends especially if you move a little closer inshalla.
Thank you Bahaa,
The Pleasure Is All Mine.
The game plan you guys had for England was excellent. it was a defensive gameplan that started in the midfield rather than further back. You held England to six shots on goal very impressive.
The usa does not have the same attcking firepower that England has and a draw will not ne enouogh against them. There needs to be the same rock solid defence but your going to need more than the one shot on goal you had against englan and the two shots on goal you had against Slovenia…. The USA is not that talented. i don’t think you guys can defend them much easier than England maybe send of few more guys in the attack. The US team does not get tired you need an early goal because they will be coming in the second half that is when they have their advantage against almost every team they can run for days…LOL
I predict 1-0 Algeria
and 0-0 slovenia and England
Sending Algeria and slovenia to the second round and the two arogant teams that were talking shit will go home will their tales between their legs inshalla
*can defend them much easier*sorry
inchallah we will see england and the us booking theire flights back home.
Algeria-USA…..its more than just a game.
…2:0, so Algeria is 100% through, no matter what the others do.
hey guys how can africa get 6 or 7 spots in the 2014 world cup?
how many teams would have to get to the second round in south africa. how does fifa determine the number of teams from each continent.
Ay caramba honestly with the performances so far by African teams with the exception of a couple of good performances it doesn’t look like FIFA will increase anything……
Ay Caramba, your comment prompted me to write a new article
Thanks bud.
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hi everybody,
thx for the egy support. Algeria did a good job. too bad we dont have a real striker, because if it was the case im 100% sure algeria would have won.
why didnt we play like this against slovenia?? the players were brave today, and the defence was impressive, bougherra and Halliche were great. the same goes for yabda and lacen….just 1 or 2 good strikers are missing.
Mbolhi is algeria new number 0ne after his performace tonight, some little mistakes, but for his first complete 90 minutes for algeria and the first wc show up he did a quite impressive job.