Furious Mido brands Egyptian FA 'Amateurs'

Egypt have banned Mido for six months. That's one game then.

Jonathan Wilson
Thursday February 9, 2006
The Guardian

Mido will miss tomorrow's African Nations Cup final after being suspended from international football by the Egyptian federation for six months for his touchline altercation with the country's coach Hassan Shehata during Tuesday's semi-final victory over Senegal.

The Tottenham striker left the Egypt squad's hotel in central Cairo yesterday morning and was believed to be en route to London last night, which could bring him into contention for Spurs' Premiership match at Sunderland on Sunday.

Although the terms of the suspension may seem tough, tomorrow's game is the only competitive fixture Egypt have scheduled for six months. That might hint at clemency but, despite a day of debate, the Egyptian football federation is adamant that Mido will not face Ivory Coast. "Sportsmanship is more important than one player," said the president Samir Zaher. "His behaviour was unacceptable. The ban is necessary to restore respect for structure and discipline."
Mido later apologised to the Egyptian fans, despite them chanting "Mido out" following the altercation, but would not back down in his dispute. "I was angry when Shehata decided to replace me," he said. "I was not that bad and, if I had stayed on, I would have scored."

'In Egypt they are amateurs. The manager, the team, the association are amateurs,' Mido told the Daily Express.

'They think they know everything. People can call me an arrogant Premiership player. The fact is that I am a Premiership player and they are amateurs.

'I have not spoken to Shehata since the incident. I don't care about him. He is a local guy. Before he was in charge of the national team, he managed a second division side.

'I want to play for Egypt again. But I don't regret what I did.

'I was disappointed by the decision to ban me. I don't know why they took it. If they win tomorrow now they can say they took a good disciplinary decision. They will be heroes. 'But if they lose it will be because of Mido, and the trouble he caused. That's how things go.'

Mido, having missed the quarter-final with a groin injury, was a doubtful starter for the semi-final but managed 79 minutes before Shehata decided to replace him with Amr Zaki. The striker engaged in a finger-wagging tirade against the coach as he stormed from the pitch and then had to be restrained by Hossam Hassan before taking his place on the bench. Zaki almost immediately proved the wisdom of Shehata's decision by heading in the winner with his first touch.

Although a poll on a Cairo radio station indicated most Egyptians believe Mido deserved his punishment, several of his team-mates are less convinced. "He tried to say sorry but the federation officials have made things worse," said Hassan, the 39-year-old forward who is likely to replace him in the starting line-up tomorrow.

"Mido isn't the only one to suffer. It's the whole team, the fans and all of Egyptian football. I've known him since he was a kid and he was just desperate to play. I've seen this happen before with other stars. People get upset but we've made a problem for ourselves. I'm really frustrated by this because without Mido we're weaker."

Mido was randomly selected to provide a sample for a drug test on Tuesday evening but rejoined his team-mates a little over two hours after the final whistle. He pleaded then to be allowed to remain with the squad, even if he was not selected for the final.

"He said that he wanted to stay with us," said Mohamed Barakat, the BBC's African player of the year in 2005. "He asked them not to exclude him, even though he had made a mistake. That was the right thing for him to say. In my opinion what happened when he was substituted was about jealousy and love. Maybe he was out of line but it was just a misunderstanding with the coach.

"This is a big disappointment for all of us. Without Mido we are not so strong. He is a great player who can do many things on the pitch but we have to accept that he is not going to be with us. We must look to what we have and anybody who comes in for him must do their job. We have other forwards like Hossam Hassan, Emad Meteb and Amr Zaki so, inshallah, we will win, even without Mido."

The 22-year-old striker returned to the international scene for the World Cup qualifier against Libya last March, having fallen out with the previous coach Marco Tardelli, a World Cup winner in 1982 with Italy. Martin Jol seems to have provided him with a measure of stability at Tottenham but his club career before moving to White Hart Lane on loan last January was turbulent.

Ajax suspended him in 2003 after he criticised the team selection of their then coach Ronald Koeman and, after a loan spell in Spain with Celta Vigo, he lasted only one year at Marseille before being offloaded to Roma.

"He is still young and inexperienced," the defender Wael Gomaa admitted, "but what he did was wrong. When I saw what was happening, I thought we would lose for sure."