A Soccer Achievement

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Hafiz
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A Soccer Achievement

Post by Hafiz »

A Soccer Achievement.

Egypt has lost to Russia 1:3 in the World Cup.

The Russian Soccer team was the lowest rated so to loose so convincingly to the lowest rated team shows real skill and lack of determination. Because it was their first match they can hardly blame exhaustion or recent injury. Maybe the flight there on Egypt Air gave them the runs.

How do they do it? Answer – like everything else in Egypt.

In a typical Egyptian plan tons of money was forced down their throats, the local media gushed unremittingly, the President met them and gave them encouragement and crowds screamed and cheered.

Nevertheless they were no good and the ‘normal’ Egyptian theatre prop-based reality didn’t change reality.

I suggest that the full Egyptian approach be used in the future. No travel, no play against others for risk of loosing, Egyptian media ‘told’ under threat of jail to always report their games as an historic victory, the soccer budget be increased by 10 times, the Army be appointed to ‘manage’ them, all public negative discussion of them in public or private a 10 year jail sentence and daily rectal examinations for the team.

Oh they could add to that the standard Egyptian 'features' on how to get things done. Ban travel outside the country by all soccer players so all are ‘kept’ in the country all the time and cannot play for, say, a UK team. Imprisonment, torture and frozen assets for poor performance will probably flow ‘naturally’ from the new military management and we all know that torture improves people’s behavior although the use of an electric prodder on players on the field in front of a crowd might go too far – but might give physical pleasure to the experienced Military Intelligence prodder who has been doing it to naked young men for 30 years in private.

It’s a good plan because it ‘works’ for everything else in Egypt and Egypt should stick to the proven and successful methods. Change is always risky and always fails. Think of Morsi.

You wonder whether the soccer failure to perform is a metaphor for everything else in Egypt – just doesn’t stand up to even basic international standards of excellence.

You might think me extreme but there is Twitter evidence that the Great Egyptian Public Opinion – reasonable and informed of course – fears their losers will be ‘locked up’. On the other hand there are some Egyptian wits one of whom wrote, the ‘only good thing about Egypt losing is that Sisi will be upset’ Given the IT security in Egypt he’s probably now locked up as a fabricated member of a terrorist organization. http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/egypt ... a-reaction. (An excellent, well written source for regional news/opinion). Humor/irony/satire should be an offence anyway.

Oh I’d forgotten. The Junta’s relationship with soccer is complex but almost universally bad. The soccer supporter groups were the most aggressive in bringing down Mubarak and don’t like Sisi. Scores of soccer supporters died in one (possibly 2) incident which is difficult to make sense of except, at the very least, the police did not do their job – I suspect it was much worse, and clubs like Zamalek are owned by people who give the word crook insufficient meaning. For years after 2011, and this was kept secret, all crowds at major games were banned because the Junta was frightened of them (at least until 2015 and probably later). Basically young men who like soccer were seen as a threat – and probably still are. https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-eg ... -slaughter

Maintaining illusions is always expensive but should never be abandoned for mere ugly reality. This reality was clouded in Egypt. At the beginning of the championship Morocco and minute Tunisia (1/10 the population of Egypt) were ranked higher so the objective truth is that Egypt is pretty awful - whatever its people, media or government believe or tell themselves to the contrary.

A suggestion for the President of Egypt. Things are bad in Egypt and not getting much better so its time to divert public attention from you and your failings onto something that might vent the citizens more general frustrations and anger. I suggest the Egyptian Soccer team be the target, completely unjustified but who cares, for all Egypt feels ill about. Could give Sisi 2-4 weeks of diversion with support from all the media – state owned, army owned and those that just cringe and derive benefit.

I note the Iceland achievement in Soccer in the Euro – very small (350,000 people), little money, average to poor facilities and a low cost coach – doesn’t get much/any attention in Imperial Egypt as Egypt clings to the slow collapse of its power and prestige. Iceland has qualified for the 2018 World Cup with a population smaller than Luxor City.

Most people, but not some, think this a marvelous story of the small beating the big and the enterprising beating the smug. Others see this as a threat. Some countries don’t have affectionate sentiment for the Iceland’s of the world but worry about their own fading 'historic' destiny all the time. I’d love to see Iceland beat Russia 6:1.

Update: Uruguay is a charming place with almost no citizens (3% of Egypt's population). It beat Egypt. Uniquely in South America its been a long term democracy and has a good standard of living based on hard work and education - not on tourism or resources. Unusually their Army is under and subject to the democratically elected government. It has no Russian tourists. Good on them.


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Re: A Soccer Achievement

Post by Major Thom »

That's Mo Salah's value dropped then. :lol:
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