From a random kick-about on Thursdays to this. I could write a book about how co-running AFC Vikings completely changed my life, but I’m more interested in it altering how people perceive football in Egypt, sparking real questions around fandom, representation, and community.
Every community has a Grassroots GOAT — the hero that makes it all happen.
For Egyptian side AFC Vikings, it’s @Assem74_. Owner, assistant coach, analyst and player if needed, “a Swiss army knife” as one of the players called him.
Here’s his story ⬇️⬇️
https://t.co/rTQmgAdhT1
القوائم بتاعة أمم إفريقيا ٢٠١٧ وكاس العالم ٢٠١٨ دي كانت غريبة جدًا، يعني الكرة المصرية كانت أصلًا بتمر بفقر في المواهب غير طبيعي، ومع ذلك مكانش في أي محاولات إننا نقاوم ده.
أسامة نبيه: استبعاد وليد سليمان من قائمة كاس العالم 2018 كان قرار فني من كوبر والخطأ وارد.. ووليد سليمان يعلق: مشكلة كوبر انه كان بيسمع لناس معينة وفي لعيبة راحت كاس العالم ومشاركتش
مجاناً على MBC شاهد
برنامج #فايق_في_المونديال يعرض يومياً الساعة 11 مساءً بتوقيت القاهرة على #MBCMASR2
لمتابعة البث المباشر
https://t.co/5VMU1LCg9c
@mena_ishere agree, they’ve thoroughly upgraded a few positions + Ouahbi is fundamentally different to Regragui as far as philosophy is concerned so they look quite different.
More World Cup players were born in Montevideo than in any other city on Earth. 142, all-time.
The capital of a country that has never had more than 4 million people. Ahead of Mexico City, ahead of Buenos Aires, ahead of every giant.
Uruguay is football's strangest outlier.
@PharaohsXI@EgyptianWeenie 100%. It’s such an overriding theme how we just tend to drop points whenever we’re favourites, and — ’99 and ’09 aside — this is sort of why we always found WCQ tough, too. Namibia in ’02 (who registered only three goals in qualifiers all vs. Egypt), Benin in ’06, Zambia in ’10.
أريد لكل مصري مثقف، محب لوطنه، حريصٍ على كرامته، ألا نلقى الأوروبي فنشعر أن بيننا وبينه من الفروق، ما يبيح له الاستعلاء علينا والاستخفاف بنا.
-طه حسين.
"مستقبل الثقافة في مصر 1938."
however, that being said, I feel there’s a sizable gap in quality between first and second tier Asian NTs (possibly the largest bar Oceania and quite similar to CONCACAF). This is starkly different to Africa where first and second tier have become pretty interchangeable.
tbf there was almost a four year gap between their 2019 win (where they were fantastic) and the 2022 WC. They weren’t quite as convincing in 2023, and sort of rode their luck a bit imo.
Portugal are playing Armenia and Hungary in World Cup qualifiers
Meanwhile DR Congo had to play Senegal and Nigeria to get here, please have some respect for the continent.
أيمن حسين اللي سجل هدف العراق دلوقتي.. له أخ ضابط شرطة وخطفته داعش وإلى الآن محدش يعرف عنه حاجة..
قصة أيمن، حزينة، عيلته تشردت في حرب العراق 2003، وزادت المعاناة مع العزو الأمريكي للعراق، ثم عاشوا عذابات وقت سيطرة داعش على منطقة الحويجة في العراق..
والده كان ضابط في الجيش العراقي واغتاله تنظيم القاعدة في 2008
الصورة جميلة اوي لكنها بتثير مشاعر مختلطة، مش عارف افرح ولا احزن...غزة هتفضل جرح غائر في قلب أمتنا لحد ماربنا يكتبلنا النصر المبين..ربنا يفرج عنهم ماهم فيه ويجبر خاطرهم
Wrote this back in January just before heading to Casablanca for the AFCON. Two inseparable twins from Helwan.
Egypt’s greatest striker. Egypt’s greatest right back. Whatever your connection to them, Egyptian football’s story cannot be told without Hossam and Ibrahim Hassan.
While the world’s media are (rightly) focusing on the Mo Salah-needs-to-win-the-AFCON narrative, Egyptians really feel a connection to this team because of “The twins who shaped Egyptian football”
Words by @assem74_ for @africasacountry
https://t.co/hDaVnRflkF
Getting @Assem74_ on to just talk about a chant without doing a deep dive into the impacts of Al Masry fan culture in the 1960s on the geopolitics of modern Egypt feels like playing Messi in a league 2 game.
@Assem74_ Always weird our reputation. Jonathan wilson said 06-10 was defensive football that was mostly 1-0 as we put four past Cameroon and ivory coast..