Egypt and South Africa heat up London
This has got to be the gayest football picture I've ever seen..
There were drums, human-sized flags and the sound of tortured geese at the inaugural Nelson Mandela Challenge Cup.
by Paul Doyle
The Thames isn't the Nile, concrete tower blocks don't quite evoke the pyramids, and Brentford's Griffin Park sure ain't no Sphinx - yet the Pharaohs felt perfectly at home in London last night. Because the vast majority of the 2,500 people who came to watch Egypt's friendly against South Africa were supporting the African champions - and with enough passion and noise to rouse Ramses the Great, let alone their footballing heroes.
Festooned with flags almost as big as themselves and amplified by drums, truck horns and, it must be said, feeble plastic trumpets that sounded like tortured geese, most of the Egyptians were in the ground and loudly chanting "Missr, Missr, Missr" an hour before kick-off. Their South African counterparts trundled in five minutes before the start, and in their tens. Billing the match as the Nelson Mandela Challenge Cup manifestly failed to inspire a big turnout from London-based supporters of the Bafana Bafana.
If the fun in the stands began way before kick-off, so too did the action on the pitch. The South African squad emerged to cacophonous boos but quickly impressed by producing a series of early candidates for move of the match, their extraordinarily well-choreographed warm-up routine looking like it had been lifted straight from a boyband video.
Then a nuclear bomb went off. At least that's what it sounded like. In fact it was merely an explosion of welcomes, the 2,000-plus Egyptians making an unfeasibly loud din as their team took to the field. Many of those clad in red, white and black were clearly fans of Al Ahly, as they immediately began paying raucous homage to Mohamed Aboutrika, the striker who scored an injury-time winner against CF Sfaxien in last Saturday's African Champions League final to give the Cairo club a fifth continental title, a haul that equals the record held by fierce city rivals Zamalek. A visibly delighted Aboutrika blew kisses to his adorers, endearing himself to them even more. "We call him the Magician," said 34-year-old Hossam Ehab. "Well, the Ahly fans call him that and so do I when he's playing for the national team. But when he's playing against Zamalek, I call him a dog!"
The match kicks off and within four minutes Egypt are ahead, Tottenham's Hossam Ghaly spotting Emad Moteab's sneaky run and the striker clipping the ball over the South African keeper Rowen Fernandez from just inside the box. Cue pandemonium on the terraces. And incredulous head-shaking from one of the South African journalists sitting near me. "Where exactly was Siphiwe Mkhonza?" demands Sipho Mthembu of the Soweto Times, before explaining that the selection of the centre-back who can't even hold down a place at the Kaizer Chiefs was the most baffling decision of caretaker managers Pitso Mosimane and Khabo Zondo. "We kept asking them about it in the press conference when they announced the line-up, but they kept passing the microphone back and forth to each other to dodge the question!"
Mosimane and Zondo won't cop too much flak back home, however, because everyone knows they're merely holding the fort until the former Brazil boss Carlos Alberto Parreira arrives to start his four-year contract on January 1 2007. That's when building will begin in earnest for the 2010 World Cup, where the South Africans are determined to impress as hosts.
Parreira has plenty of work to do. The team finished bottom of their group in this year's African Nations Cup and missed out on the World Cup by losing group games to Ghana, DR Congo and Burkina Faso. Yet though they looked disjointed last night, especially in the first half when the well-drilled Egyptians overwhelmed them in midfield, there were several mitigating factors. For a start, they were without the two midfielders through whom much of their play is normally channelled, Orlando Pirates' Benedict Vilakazi and Kaizer Chiefs' Siyabonga Nkosi, as well as Blackburn striker Benedict McCarthy, who was omitted, not for the first time, because the national team management reckoned he needs some attitude adjustment.
And secondly, of course, they were up against the champions of Africa. In addition to being one of the continent's most physically powerful sides, Egypt play like a team so in tune with each other that they can let their instincts dictate their movements. The runs and feints of Ghaly, Aboutrika, Hasni Ald Roler and Ahmed Fothy in the middle was at times enchanting, and when they weren't trying to thread their way through the heart of the South African defence, they were releasing their rampaging captain and full-back Ahmed Hassan, who covered the whole of the right flank.
Hassan almost created a second goal for Egypt just after the half-hour mark, after galloping forward and picking out the once-again unmarked Moteab with a dainty chip. But the striker slipped as the ball was coming to him and butted it clumsily wide. Aboutrika fired a free-kick just over moments later, and Amr Zaki brought a fine save from Fernandez after waltzing past two opponents and letting fly from 30 yards.
But there were positives for South Africa, too, and it was clear that Parreira will inherit some lavishly gifted players. Blackburn's Aaron Mokoena probably doesn't fit that description but he was solid at centre-back, while Nasief Morris, who normally partners him but was shunted out to right-back to accommodate the floundering Mkhonza, was excellent both in defence and going forward. Even Mkhonza showed he has at least one trick up his sleeve: his phenomenal long throw-ins almost produced a goal on two occasions, notably after 33 minutes when the left-back Richaido Katza came up to connect with one at the back post but headed inches wide.
One of the highlights of an entertaining, admirably intense encounter was the duel between Hassan and Sihiase Tshabalala, who plies his trade in the second tier of South African football after deciding to stick with the recently-relegated Free State Stars rather than jump ship to the Pirates. It was almost reminiscent of Ashley Cole v Cristiano Ronaldo in Euro 2004 as they took turns tormenting each other, even if Hassan undeniably had the last laugh when he stopped right in front of his foe, only to brazenly loop the ball over his head and on to the foot of Aboutrika, who initiated another attack.
The match was being broadcast live in South Africa and I put it to the Soweto Times's correspondent that, despite the 1-0 defeat, Bafana fans could be reasonably happy with their side's performance, particularly in the second half when Katza pushed into midfield to gain parity in terms of both numbers and possession. "Unlikely," he insisted. "What you have to understand is that Egypt are our customers: home or away, we always make them pay. Losing to them is not good." Steve McClaren, it seems, isn't the only one working in front of a highly-demanding gallery.
When Rob Styles blew the final whistle, the Egyptian fans acclaimed a decent victory and the players swapped jerseys and swaggered off the pitch. Some trotted over to the stands to sign autographs and pose for photos. One, the Egypt captain Hassan, had to be reminded several minutes later, as fans already poured out of the ground, that there had been a trophy at stake tonight. And so, as the majority of his team-mates were in the dressing room and his fans exited to a bleak November night in west London, Hassan walked over to the sideline to collect the inaugural Nelson Mandela Challenge Cup in what must be one of the most discreet trophy presentations of all time. The match was much better than that.
There were drums, human-sized flags and the sound of tortured geese at the inaugural Nelson Mandela Challenge Cup.
by Paul Doyle
The Thames isn't the Nile, concrete tower blocks don't quite evoke the pyramids, and Brentford's Griffin Park sure ain't no Sphinx - yet the Pharaohs felt perfectly at home in London last night. Because the vast majority of the 2,500 people who came to watch Egypt's friendly against South Africa were supporting the African champions - and with enough passion and noise to rouse Ramses the Great, let alone their footballing heroes.
Festooned with flags almost as big as themselves and amplified by drums, truck horns and, it must be said, feeble plastic trumpets that sounded like tortured geese, most of the Egyptians were in the ground and loudly chanting "Missr, Missr, Missr" an hour before kick-off. Their South African counterparts trundled in five minutes before the start, and in their tens. Billing the match as the Nelson Mandela Challenge Cup manifestly failed to inspire a big turnout from London-based supporters of the Bafana Bafana.
If the fun in the stands began way before kick-off, so too did the action on the pitch. The South African squad emerged to cacophonous boos but quickly impressed by producing a series of early candidates for move of the match, their extraordinarily well-choreographed warm-up routine looking like it had been lifted straight from a boyband video.
Then a nuclear bomb went off. At least that's what it sounded like. In fact it was merely an explosion of welcomes, the 2,000-plus Egyptians making an unfeasibly loud din as their team took to the field. Many of those clad in red, white and black were clearly fans of Al Ahly, as they immediately began paying raucous homage to Mohamed Aboutrika, the striker who scored an injury-time winner against CF Sfaxien in last Saturday's African Champions League final to give the Cairo club a fifth continental title, a haul that equals the record held by fierce city rivals Zamalek. A visibly delighted Aboutrika blew kisses to his adorers, endearing himself to them even more. "We call him the Magician," said 34-year-old Hossam Ehab. "Well, the Ahly fans call him that and so do I when he's playing for the national team. But when he's playing against Zamalek, I call him a dog!"
The match kicks off and within four minutes Egypt are ahead, Tottenham's Hossam Ghaly spotting Emad Moteab's sneaky run and the striker clipping the ball over the South African keeper Rowen Fernandez from just inside the box. Cue pandemonium on the terraces. And incredulous head-shaking from one of the South African journalists sitting near me. "Where exactly was Siphiwe Mkhonza?" demands Sipho Mthembu of the Soweto Times, before explaining that the selection of the centre-back who can't even hold down a place at the Kaizer Chiefs was the most baffling decision of caretaker managers Pitso Mosimane and Khabo Zondo. "We kept asking them about it in the press conference when they announced the line-up, but they kept passing the microphone back and forth to each other to dodge the question!"
Mosimane and Zondo won't cop too much flak back home, however, because everyone knows they're merely holding the fort until the former Brazil boss Carlos Alberto Parreira arrives to start his four-year contract on January 1 2007. That's when building will begin in earnest for the 2010 World Cup, where the South Africans are determined to impress as hosts.
Parreira has plenty of work to do. The team finished bottom of their group in this year's African Nations Cup and missed out on the World Cup by losing group games to Ghana, DR Congo and Burkina Faso. Yet though they looked disjointed last night, especially in the first half when the well-drilled Egyptians overwhelmed them in midfield, there were several mitigating factors. For a start, they were without the two midfielders through whom much of their play is normally channelled, Orlando Pirates' Benedict Vilakazi and Kaizer Chiefs' Siyabonga Nkosi, as well as Blackburn striker Benedict McCarthy, who was omitted, not for the first time, because the national team management reckoned he needs some attitude adjustment.
And secondly, of course, they were up against the champions of Africa. In addition to being one of the continent's most physically powerful sides, Egypt play like a team so in tune with each other that they can let their instincts dictate their movements. The runs and feints of Ghaly, Aboutrika, Hasni Ald Roler and Ahmed Fothy in the middle was at times enchanting, and when they weren't trying to thread their way through the heart of the South African defence, they were releasing their rampaging captain and full-back Ahmed Hassan, who covered the whole of the right flank.
Hassan almost created a second goal for Egypt just after the half-hour mark, after galloping forward and picking out the once-again unmarked Moteab with a dainty chip. But the striker slipped as the ball was coming to him and butted it clumsily wide. Aboutrika fired a free-kick just over moments later, and Amr Zaki brought a fine save from Fernandez after waltzing past two opponents and letting fly from 30 yards.
But there were positives for South Africa, too, and it was clear that Parreira will inherit some lavishly gifted players. Blackburn's Aaron Mokoena probably doesn't fit that description but he was solid at centre-back, while Nasief Morris, who normally partners him but was shunted out to right-back to accommodate the floundering Mkhonza, was excellent both in defence and going forward. Even Mkhonza showed he has at least one trick up his sleeve: his phenomenal long throw-ins almost produced a goal on two occasions, notably after 33 minutes when the left-back Richaido Katza came up to connect with one at the back post but headed inches wide.
One of the highlights of an entertaining, admirably intense encounter was the duel between Hassan and Sihiase Tshabalala, who plies his trade in the second tier of South African football after deciding to stick with the recently-relegated Free State Stars rather than jump ship to the Pirates. It was almost reminiscent of Ashley Cole v Cristiano Ronaldo in Euro 2004 as they took turns tormenting each other, even if Hassan undeniably had the last laugh when he stopped right in front of his foe, only to brazenly loop the ball over his head and on to the foot of Aboutrika, who initiated another attack.
The match was being broadcast live in South Africa and I put it to the Soweto Times's correspondent that, despite the 1-0 defeat, Bafana fans could be reasonably happy with their side's performance, particularly in the second half when Katza pushed into midfield to gain parity in terms of both numbers and possession. "Unlikely," he insisted. "What you have to understand is that Egypt are our customers: home or away, we always make them pay. Losing to them is not good." Steve McClaren, it seems, isn't the only one working in front of a highly-demanding gallery.
When Rob Styles blew the final whistle, the Egyptian fans acclaimed a decent victory and the players swapped jerseys and swaggered off the pitch. Some trotted over to the stands to sign autographs and pose for photos. One, the Egypt captain Hassan, had to be reminded several minutes later, as fans already poured out of the ground, that there had been a trophy at stake tonight. And so, as the majority of his team-mates were in the dressing room and his fans exited to a bleak November night in west London, Hassan walked over to the sideline to collect the inaugural Nelson Mandela Challenge Cup in what must be one of the most discreet trophy presentations of all time. The match was much better than that.
posted by Basil Epicurus at 12:43 PM
1 Comments:
lol you're right about the picture.
About the Egyptian fans being there an hour before, it must be our appreciative sense of timing...during this last African cup you had to be there many hour before, before the first match playing before yours, so you can watch Egypt play in the second game of the day. Otherwise you wouldn't be let in the stadium.
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