Sports debates on Egyptian streets remain the main preoccupation of the majority, a people uniquely passionate in their reactions to various issues—especially in cafés, where patrons range from labourers to high-ranking professionals sneaking away from work for a couple of shisha puffs to ‘clear their heads’.
‘Mate, he knows nothing. That coach is rubbish. He just scares his players because he’s rude and has a sharp tongue—but that’s exactly why he’s getting results. Without that, they wouldn’t have stood a chance in the last two matches.’
‘Did you hear that Mohsen Saleh is taking over at Smouha? They’re even holding a press conference to announce it. He won’t achieve anything! It’s just desperation, mate. It’s all about al-Ahly. May God bless you, Aboutrika—keep humiliating them, maestro!’
This was just a snippet of the chatter last weekend in some Cairo cafés during the mid-morning ‘skive shift’, a period when white-collar employees, small business owners, and labourers all come together to discuss the nation’s biggest concern: the football league. As if the outcome were not already predetermined, they remain in a constant hunt for any new controversy to fuel their heated, theatrical arguments about the dominance of one club or the brilliance of a particular player.
This was happening just after an eye-opening read through Egyptian and international newspapers, which were filled with anxious and tense reports on the Nile water crisis and its latest developments—an issue some fear could drag Egypt into the quagmire of war, given that the country’s share of the Nile is considered a matter of national security that cannot be compromised. But still, Hossam Hassan remains the top priority.
Some newspapers reported that Kenya preempted an official visit from Egypt by signing a new water agreement—one that Egypt and Sudan firmly oppose—in an attempt to force Cairo into a fait accompli. The Kenyan water minister, meanwhile, insisted she was in Egypt to discuss ‘other matters’. In other words, Egypt losing its share of the Nile is a non-issue for them, and not even up for discussion. But the real crisis? Mokhtar’s resignation as head coach of Petrojet.
Reports say Kenya’s Minister of Water Resources, Charity Ngilu, signed the agreement in her Nairobi office on Wednesday morning, after the document was flown in from Entebbe, Uganda. The sixth upstream country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, is expected to sign within days, while the seventh, Burundi, is likely to join after its presidential elections. This would leave Egypt and Sudan isolated, unprepared, and alone against the other seven Nile Basin states, in a showdown whose consequences and details remain unclear. But at least the Egyptian club al-Masry has managed to snatch up striker Sameh al-Aidarous from El-Entag El-Harby—well done, lads!
Egypt has already fallen into the ranks of the world’s most water-impoverished nations. That is nothing new. What is new is that, thanks to this African manoeuvre, Egypt could soon find itself leading that list. A manoeuvre orchestrated by the same dark-skinned brothers whom Gamal Abdel Nasser once freed from colonial subjugation. The African comrades-in-arms who long saw Egypt as a spiritual beacon for the continent’s awakening. But Egypt never embraced that leadership role, abandoning any meaningful efforts to represent these nations’ interests, to share their dreams or their crises. So, they stopped respecting us—or even fearing us—as we drifted into a political absurdity that ignores even the basics of soft power. Still, the only consolation for the Egyptian people in our cafés is that Egypt remains the champion of African football. Surely, we can send a few of our players over there to sort out this water problem for us. Maybe they’ll even bring back a trophy from Ethiopia while they’re at it—just enough to quench our thirst. And when they return, we’ll flood the streets with fireworks, singing ‘O My Beloved Egypt!’
This article is originally published by AlBorsa in Arabic and later AI-translated by South Push.