Who is responsible? The inside story of the assistant coach's departure from the Egypt national team
What happened?
Broadcaster Ibrahim Fayek has revealed striking behind-the-scenes details about the departure of assistant coach Basem Ali from Egypt's new coaching staff under Ali Maher, just a day after the Football Association announced his official appointment on Sunday.
Writing on his official Facebook account, Fayek said Ali had entered the national team camp and actually begun working on preparations for the Malawi match in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. Then came the blow. He was told he could not go out to training sessions, by order of the Football Association.
The decision blindsided Ali, according to Fayek, who pointed out that Maher himself delivered the news. That raised questions about how the coach had been treated, especially as he had already joined the camp and started preparing for the match ahead.
Denouncing the whole affair, Fayek went on: "So he gets appointed, goes out to training, and then you bring up the coaching licence? Well, that's a failure on your part from the start. It's no excuse that you appointed him, announced him, and he entered the camp, and then you told him to take your things and leave?".
He kept up the criticism of how the decision was reached, saying: "If you appointed someone from the start, why not just appoint him and be done with it, is anyone going to say anything to you?". His point was simple: any objections over the coaching licence should have been sorted before the official announcement and before Ali ever joined the camp.
The Football Association had named Ali as an assistant coach within Maher's new staff, the manager who replaced Hossam Hassan. Then Ali stirred controversy with a message on his personal Instagram account, speaking about not continuing with the coaching staff.
His message read: "It is the decree of God and what He wills He does, first and last, and our Lord never, ever does anything bad to any person, and I am content with His wisdom, so praise and thanks always to God. I hope people will back and support Captain Ali Maher and his respected coaching staff, whom I had the honour of being one of among them, and I wish them all the best in the coming period. I wished to be there with them and to represent our country's national team, because it is a great honour for any coach to be present and to represent our country's national team. All the best to this respected staff, which deserves support and backing, and our Lord will compensate me for them, God willing, Lord of the Worlds".
