Egypt bid farewell to legendary manager who led the country to one of its rare appearances on global soccer's biggest stage, Inas Mazhar reports , 74, who led Egypt to the 1990 World Cup where the team dazzled audiences in Egypt and abroad, was pronounced dead on Monday in Jordan. El-Gohari suffered a stroke three days earlier and was hospitalised at the Arab Medical Centre in Amman, Jordan. El-Gohari, the technical manager of the Jordanian Football Association, remained in critical condition before he died. In appreciation of his efforts with Jordanian football throughout the past decade, King Abdullah of Jordan airlifted El-Gohari's body on a private jet bound for Egypt. The king's brother Prince Ali, the president of the Jordanian Football Association, followed in another plane to attend the funeral which was held in Cairo on Tuesday. Egypt's head of state Mohamed Mursi ordered a military funeral to pay tribute to the legendary coach. As soon as the news arrived about El-Gohari's health, several sports dignitaries travelled to Jordan including all the members of the technical staff who worked under him: team manager Samir Adli, coach Alaa Nabil and physician Dr Ahmed Maged. Famed players and coaches, the twins Hossam and Ibrahim Hassan who said they considered El-Gohari their godfather, also travelled to Amman. Hossam scored Egypt's winning goal against Algeria in Cairo that took Egypt to the 1990 World Cup. El-Gohari was Egypt's coach in the qualifications and in the tournament. After Nabil retired from football, El-Gohari selected him as his assistant coach. El-Gohari, one of Egypt's greatest ever football icons, was born on 28 February1938 and joined the Military Institution as an army officer where he took part in the 1973 war against Israel. Though he retired from the army with the rank of brigade, the media dubbed him 'The General'. El-Gohari was highly respected by Arab countries after having coached in Saudi Arabia (Ittihad Jeddah), the UAE (Sharjah & El-Wehda), Oman's national team and Jordan. El-Gohari stayed on the pitch as a player for Ahli from 1955 to 1966 when he had to retire because of a knee injury that put an end to his football career as a player. He took on training and started at Ahli at the beginning of the eighties. He coached Saudi Arabia's Ittihad Jeddah in 1981 but didn't stay long and returned home to train Ahli for a year, helping them win their first ever African Champions Cup in 1982, known nowadays as the Champions League, and then the African Cup Winners Cup, known now as the Confederations Cup, in 1984. In 1988, he was named head coach of the Pharaohs and after two years of hard work led the team to the World Cup in Italy in 1990. It was only the second appearance that Egypt had made in the World Cup finals, the first being in 1934. At the World Cup, thanks to El-Gohari, Egypt made an impressive start with a remarkable and unforgettable performance again the then European champions Netherlands, drawing 1-1. In the other two matches, Egypt drew before 0-0 with Ireland but lost 1-0 to England for an early bye to the tournament in the group stage. After being heavily beaten by Greece in a friendly, El-Gohari quit, only to return to lead the team at the Africa Cup of Nations in Senegal in 1992. The Pharaohs suffered three humiliating defeats and were eliminated from the event. However, El-Gohari atoned somewhat by winning the gold medal at the Arab Games which was held in Syria at the end of 1992. In 1993, football fans were stunned when El-Gohari made a daring move and took charge of Ahli's arch rivals Zamalek. No other coach has ever coached the two football giants. Under El-Gohari Zamalek won the 1993 African Champions League and the African Super Cup the following year, beating Ahli in the match played in Johannesburg, South Africa. Later, he left Egypt to train UAE side Al-Wehda and Oman's national team. In 1997, El-Gohari returned to coach the Pharaohs in March and silence critics after leading Egypt to its fourth Nations Cup title in 1998 in Burkina Faso. Prior to the tournament, El-Gohari had predicted Egypt would not make it out of the group stage. That achievement made El-Gohari the only footballer to win the Nations Cup as a player, in 1959 and a coach in 1998. In 1959, he was also named the tournament's top scorer. The following year in 1999, Egypt took part in the FIFA Confederations Cup in Mexico but a humiliating 5-1 defeat by Saudi Arabia put an end to his career. But his sacking lasted only a few months as the EFA summoned him back for a fourth time to take over after Frenchman Gerard Gili following the 2000 Nations Cup. Egypt failed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup after a tough qualifying campaign and were knocked out of the Nations Cup as well at the hands of Cameroon in the quarter-finals. In 2002, El-Gohari left Egypt after and was appointed as Jordan's coach. In Amman he managed in a short time to take the country, not a football giant, to a remarkable finish at the 2004 AFC Asian Cup, a quarter-final slot for their best-ever achievement. In 2009 and after several successful years in Jordan, El-Gohari was appointed by Egypt as the technical manager of the Egyptian Football Association. His job was to draw up plans for all national teams, juniors and seniors. But he quit again because of disputes with the board of directors and returned to Jordan in the same year as an adviser to the Jordanian Football Association, from 2009 to 2012. El-Gohari is married and leaves behind two daughters and a son, Ahmed, who played for Heliopolis Club but left to take care of private business.
