Mido thrown out of Egyptian squad
I have to say, Mido may have been a hot-head but Shehata kind of goaded him on (I saw the video on egyptianplayers.com). I think there was a class/ generational gap as well. Thing is, we demand passion and when we get it, we insist it conforms to our value system. Mido wasn't right in what he did but then again, he didn't do much but mouth off.
CAIRO, Egypt (Reuters) -- Egyptian striker Mido has been thrown off their squad and handed an instant six-month ban following his very public row with team coach Hassan Shehata after being substituted in their African Nations Cup semifinal against Senegal on Tuesday.
The Tottenham star will miss Friday's final against the Ivory Coast, with his teammates saying on Wednesday that the decision was harsh.
Striker Hossam Hassan, who had to restrain Mido during his altercation with Shehata, told reporters: "My own feeling is that the decision was out of proportion."
The 39-year-old, one of the most respected figures in African football added: "We needed Mido in this game.
"I have known him since we were kids, he's just eager to play.
"He tried to apologise for what happened but the FA people made the problem bigger. Mido is not the only one to lose out - it's the whole team, the fans and the Egyptian football federation.
"People might think I'm wrong but I've seen that happen with other big players who got upset. We've made a problem for ourselves and I'm not happy with this decision."
Shehata was vindicated by his decision to replace the hothead striker in the 78th minute as substitute Amr Zaki headed the winner just three minutes later.
"Mido is a guy who plays with his heart," said Hassan.
"He wanted to play right to the end especially because we were drawing 1-1. e is one of the most passionate players around. A mistake was made, but we should not blame Mido."
Egyptian frustration
Midfielder Mohamed Barakat told Reuters: "We are all frustrated by this, we need Mido because he can play anywhere on the pitch.
"The fact that he is not here is making us weaker. But we have to accept that Mido is not going to be here.
"We have to be self-sufficient and any player who replaces him has to do the business. We have Hossam Hassan, Emad Moteab and Amr Zaki and if Allah wills it we will win, whether Mido is here or not."
Giving an insight into events behind the scenes, Barakat added: "Mido said 'I want to stay with the squad to the end - don't exclude me, even if I made a mistake.'
"It was a nice thing for him to have said. For me, what happened yesterday was out of jealousy and love.
"Even if he was a bit out of line, it was just a clarification between him and the coach."
Defender Wael Gomaa also felt Mido's commitment to the cause was behind the outburst.
"I think Mido was wrong in what he did. But Mido is still young and he is not experienced. He wants to be on the field and wants to score goals but his behaviour is not good."
With the score at 1-1, Gomaa feared the worst after Mido's tantrum. "In my mind I thought we will lose after something like this. But thank God for the win. It was very difficult but that's football."
CAIRO, Egypt (Reuters) -- Egyptian striker Mido has been thrown off their squad and handed an instant six-month ban following his very public row with team coach Hassan Shehata after being substituted in their African Nations Cup semifinal against Senegal on Tuesday.
The Tottenham star will miss Friday's final against the Ivory Coast, with his teammates saying on Wednesday that the decision was harsh.
Striker Hossam Hassan, who had to restrain Mido during his altercation with Shehata, told reporters: "My own feeling is that the decision was out of proportion."
The 39-year-old, one of the most respected figures in African football added: "We needed Mido in this game.
"I have known him since we were kids, he's just eager to play.
"He tried to apologise for what happened but the FA people made the problem bigger. Mido is not the only one to lose out - it's the whole team, the fans and the Egyptian football federation.
"People might think I'm wrong but I've seen that happen with other big players who got upset. We've made a problem for ourselves and I'm not happy with this decision."
Shehata was vindicated by his decision to replace the hothead striker in the 78th minute as substitute Amr Zaki headed the winner just three minutes later.
"Mido is a guy who plays with his heart," said Hassan.
"He wanted to play right to the end especially because we were drawing 1-1. e is one of the most passionate players around. A mistake was made, but we should not blame Mido."
Egyptian frustration
Midfielder Mohamed Barakat told Reuters: "We are all frustrated by this, we need Mido because he can play anywhere on the pitch.
"The fact that he is not here is making us weaker. But we have to accept that Mido is not going to be here.
"We have to be self-sufficient and any player who replaces him has to do the business. We have Hossam Hassan, Emad Moteab and Amr Zaki and if Allah wills it we will win, whether Mido is here or not."
Giving an insight into events behind the scenes, Barakat added: "Mido said 'I want to stay with the squad to the end - don't exclude me, even if I made a mistake.'
"It was a nice thing for him to have said. For me, what happened yesterday was out of jealousy and love.
"Even if he was a bit out of line, it was just a clarification between him and the coach."
Defender Wael Gomaa also felt Mido's commitment to the cause was behind the outburst.
"I think Mido was wrong in what he did. But Mido is still young and he is not experienced. He wants to be on the field and wants to score goals but his behaviour is not good."
With the score at 1-1, Gomaa feared the worst after Mido's tantrum. "In my mind I thought we will lose after something like this. But thank God for the win. It was very difficult but that's football."
posted by Basil Epicurus at 2:58 PM
2 Comments:
I disagree with you bro. The TV camera was on him to a degree that you could lip-read what he was saying. He said thing along the line :
"Is there a problem between me and you (Shehata)".
Way out of line.
It distracted the whole team and was disrespectful towards the player that took his place, Amr Zaki. Amr Zaki answered back in less than a minute to score the winning goal.
But forget about Mido. Egypt's other striker, Abu-Trekkah is DA MAN. A world-class player equal to France's Zedane. He was the one who kicked the cross ball to Amr Zaki to score. He had a shot that hit the goal bar earlier in the game that took a descending spin only seen in Japanese cartoons.
Hoping for a big win again Ivory Coast. Drugba is a cold-blooded serial goal scorer but the momentum (and Abu-Trekkah) is with us!!
You know, I agree with you that:
a) It was arrogant and childish
b) It could have easily distracted the team
But two things I didn't like. It's natural for a player to be pissed off when he's taken off. Alex Ferguson said "I don't want a player who's happy to be taken off". We keep asking for passion (and Mido plays with passion) and when it overflows, we say 'not that much'. These are professional atheletes and they don't have an off switch and it's important that ANY coach understand that and let it go.
Which brings me to the second thing I didn't like: Mido walked away but Shehata kept shouting at him. If he was interested in the outcome of the game as they say, he would have let it slide and dealt with Mido later. I still say it was a karama thing more than a football thing.
And the punishment was a) way too much and b) meaningless considering we don't have any international commitments until the 2012 world cup. We just love to posture and put banners up.
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