2007 was not one of Egypt s better football years. The country with the most African Nations Cup championships, the most appearances in the ANC, and the defending champions (we re all three) had to wait until the last game of the last day before qualifying for next month s ANC tournament in Ghana. And Ahly, as accomplished in the African Champions League as Egypt in the ANC, let slip away the continent s most prestigious club soccer crown.Despite playing in a qualifying group that had minnows Mauritania, Botswana and Burundi, Egypt barely scrambled through to Ghana, to play alongside former champions Cameroon and Sudan and always dangerous Zambia in Group C.The hard-fought qualification when it should have been a piece of cake, plus the names that will not be going to Ghana - out are the injured duo Mido and Mohamed Barakat, the suspended Shikabala, inform striker Ahmed Bilal and top scorer in the league Alaa Ibrahim - dramatically reduced the odds that Egypt can return home with the trophy.Some good news for the team was being grouped with another trio of lightweights (here we go again) Malawi, Djibouti and DR Congo, in the first phase of qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup. Eliminations start in the summer. Egypt did well to win the World Military Cup, beating Cameroon 1-0 in the final played in India, and struck gold in the Pan-Arab Games which the country hosted in November. But Egypt lost out on a soccer place in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and could not get past the first round in the All-African Games in Algeria in July.From country crisis to club collapse, Ahly could not hold on to their African Champions League title, losing it to Tunisia s Etoile de Sahel following a humiliating 3-1 loss at home; this after doing the hard part, drawing 0-0 at Sousse in the first leg.The loss prevented Ahly from winning the trophy an unprecedented third consecutive times, a record sixth time altogether, the $1 million check that goes to the winner and best of all, the grand trip to Japan for the world club football championship (Etoile, representing Africa, finished fourth).Earlier, in April, Barcelona, with Ronaldinho, Messi and Eto o, administered a lesson in how the game is played when they shellacked Ahly 4-0, despite the presence of President Mubarak in the stands of Cairo Stadium along with his grandson on his lap. The game was played to mark Ahly s centennial celebrations.Ahly made up with their fans somewhat by climbing to first place in the league standings, after spending the first 10 weeks of the season watching as newcomers to the league race Petrojet and Al-Geish exchanged the lead. As we enter the league s half-way stage Ahly are currently atop the table, nine points ahead of their nearest rival and poised to capture their fourth league crown in a row.No Egyptian club could put any major silverware on their shelves. Besides the Ahly debacle, Zamalek went down to Hilal of Sudan before even reaching the group stage of the African Champions League. Zamalek did better in the Arab Champions League, going all the way to the semi-finals before being ousted by Faisali of Jordan. Ismaili did what all Egyptians clubs did before them - fail to conquer the African Confederation Cup.Domestically, Ahly and Zamalek played one of the best games ever on the local scene, Ahly ultimately prevailing 4-3 in the final of the cup despite being a goal down on three occasions.Some Egyptians abroad had good 2007 seasons, most notably Mohamed Zidan and Ahmed Hassan in Hamburg and Anderlecht respectively. But in the English Premiership, Hossam Ghali showed the world some extremely bad Egyptian manners after throwing his shirt in disgust at the general vicinity of his Tottenham coach Martin Jol after being substituted; Mido had to continue suffering racial and religious taunts of English fans; and Mohamed Shawki, acquired from Ahly earlier in the year, has to date played only one game for Middlesbrough. But no player had to go through the same ordeal as that of defender Mohamed Seddik of Ahly who put the nation on hold after a mid-air collision in a domestic league game. Seddik s prone and motionless body on the pitch brought back horrific memories of last year s death of Ahly international Mohamed Abdel-Wahab of a sudden heart attack in training at age 23. So concerned was President Mubarak s son Gamal that he called up Ahly club on the spot to see how Seddik was doing. Fortunately, Seddik lived to tell the story.Another football character back from the dead so to speak was former Zamalek club president Mortada Mansour who was jailed for nine months for verbally abusing a chief justice. The controversial lawyer vowed to return to his post just a few hours after being released from prison. How does Mansour justify his intent to oust the current president Mamdouh Abbas? He said this on TV: I was the elected president so I should reclaim my position. My battle with Abbas has begun. And so, too, begins 2008. Good luck to all parties concerned.
