Seeing an Italian-Egyptian as top scorer of Serie A and what's more, becoming an Italy international, while at the same, Egypt lacks a clinical striker, raises the question of where the country's talents actually lie. Although countries like Nigeria, Cote D'Ivoire and Cameroon have players all over the world, Egypt has always been better when it comes to African competitions. With a team formed of mostly domestic-based players, Egypt managed to win three consecutive African cups, in 2006, 2008 and 2010. On the other hand, Egypt has not qualified for the World Cup since 1990 raising questions as to whether the team still needs a world class touch. During the last decade, Egypt had and still has players across the world even though their number cannot be compared to those from West Africa. Nigeria, for example, has over 700 players in Europe. Furthermore, in addition to the sparse few Egyptians abroad, those who are there do not benefit the country much. Having a fixed eye on the domestic-based players, Egypt lost a world class goalkeeper to the Swedish national team and an explosive young talent to the Italian tournament. It is though still possible to benefit from young talent around the world of Egyptian origin in our national team. Al-Ahram Weekly points the spotlight on our players around the world, the ones we lost and the ones we could regain. Rami Shaaban, former Arsenal goalkeeper, was a discovery in his time. The son of an Egyptian father and Finnish mother who also held Swedish nationality by being born in Stockholm, Shaaban started his soccer career in the mid-1990s playing for a Swedish local club called Saltsjöbadens. It wasn't long before he moved back to his father's country to play for Egyptian club Zamalek. That didn't last for long though as he moved to Ittihad Othman and then back to Sweden to play for his hometown team Nacka FF. After shining for three years with his new team, he was finally offered to join first division team Djurgårdens IF in 2000. In Djurgårdens IF, Shaaban played for two years earning 40 appearances and winning the Allsevenskan (the Swedish League) and the Svenska Cupen (the Swedish Cup). In 2002, Shaaban was lucky enough to jump all the way out of the weak Swedish league to the almighty English one. He signed for Arsenal as Arsene Winger who is known to be an expert in discovering young talent thought him a good substitute for David Seaman, the famous English goalkeeper then. Shaaban though didn't play much in two years in Highbur. He did become the first Egyptian to win the Premier League with his club and also the FA Cup. Later, Shaaban moved to West Ham on loan and then to Brighton & Hove Albion in England which he left a year later to Norway to play for Fredrikstad FK. With his new team he added another league to his list of accomplishments, winning the Norwegian league in 2006. Throughout his career, Shaaban expressed his desire several times to represent the Egyptian national team. But he did not get enough attention from his mother country. Instead he was picked up by the Swedish national team in 2006 and wore the yellow and blue shirt for two years. With his European national team he played in the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2008. Shaaban retired in 2011 leaving us to wonder what he could have added to our national team. Moving to Italy, there is Kareem Saleh Kareem Al-Shaarawi who is now known as Stephan Al-Shaarawi, the son of an Egyptian father and Italian mother. The young striker currently plays for former European champions AC Milan and is now topping the scoring sheet of Serie A. The 20-year-old star started his career at the age of 13, joining Serie A club Genoa. Three years later, he became the fourth youngest player in the history of the Serie A to make his debut with his club's first team in their match against Chievo on 21 December 2008. Al-Shaarawi was loaned for the 2010-2011 season to Serie B side Padova where he proved himself and became a crucial player for the team. He scored nine goals in 29 caps and led Padova to the promotion playoff finals which they lost against Novara. Despite that, Al-Shaarawi's performance did not go unnoticed, being crowned Serie B player in 2011. The legendary club AC Milan managed to sign the young star to play alongside world class players Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva, Antonio Cassano and Robinho. Il Faraone (The Pharaoh), as his fans like to call Al-Shaarawi, scored his first goal for Milan in his second match coming on as a substitute for the injured Alexander Pato. Regardless, Al-Shaarawi did not enjoy much time on the pitch during his first season with the Rossoneri. It was then the move of Ibrahimovic to Paris St Germain this season that left a vacancy to be filled with the youngster. Al-Shaarawi quickly claimed the opportunity becoming the star of the team as he scored 16 goals in all competitions, becoming Milan's top scorer. Fourteen goals out of the 16 were in Serie A matches, making him top scorer there as well. Watching what he has become, it's no wonder we have to question the abilities of Egyptian scouts. Al-Shaarawi became an Italy international while he could have represented Egypt but he was denied by former national team coach Hassan Shehata who once said, “Not every Egyptian playing for a foreign league qualifies to play for the national side.” In addition to Shaaban and Al-Shaarawi, Egypt has young talents playing for youth teams of some good European sides. First is Amir Adel who is known as Alexander Jacobsen in Europe. Adel is an 18-year-old Egyptian playing for The Netherland's top club PSV Eindhoven. He holds both the Egyptian and Danish nationalities and is known since he was 14 as “Denmark's Ronaldinho.” Adel will join the U-20 Egyptian national team after his father, former Ahli player Adel Ahmed, agreed. In France, another talent captured the eyes of the French. Abdullah Yaisien, an Egyptian-Algerian, who represented France at the FIFA U-17 2011 World Cup in Mexico, had everyone talking since then about his exploding talent. Being a playmaker in a class of his own during that tournament, Yaisien led his team to the quarter-finals before being knocked out by the hosts and later on tournament winners Mexico. Playing for the wealthy French club Paris St Germain, the youngster is already being scouted by top clubs across Europe after scoring seven times and assisting in eight goals in 11 games for the French. Yaisien has been called up by Rabei Yassin, the U-20 Egyptian national team coach. Yaisien who has the choice between Egypt, Algeria and France, recently announced his decision to represent the U-20 Egyptian national team. Adel and Yaisien are not the only young Egyptian talents in Europe. There are Rami Ghandour and Faris Afifi who play for Dutch sides TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and FC Utricht consecutively. Also in England there is Sam Morsy whose real name is Samy Sayed Morsy, a 21-year-old who grew up inside the youth academy of Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers. The midfielder currently plays for League Two side Port Vale. On the other side of the world and in Japan specifically, Egypt also has a young talent in Osama Al-Samni. The 24-year-old is an Egyptian-Japanese who currently represents Yokohama Sports and Culture Club in the Japanese league. Al-Samni ‘s list of honor includes the Czech Republic Football Cup which he won with his former Czech club, FK Teplice, during the 2008-2009 season. Al-Samni has expressed his interest to play for the Egyptian national team but he has yet to be called up. All these players are just in need of an eagle-eyed scout. Maybe a world class player is just a phone call away from representing the Pharaohs.
