Hossam Hassan, the former player of Egyptian side Al-Masry this week indirectly conceded that sorcery is a thing of normality in African football.
Hassan’s comment comes in the wake of his side’s qualification to the round of 32 in the CAF Confederation, for the first time in fifteen years.
Al-Masry eliminated Nigeria’s Ifeanyi Ubah out of the tournament on post-match penalties but drama ensued after officials removed a substance-like item associated with witchcraft from Ubah’s goalkeeper’s goal prior to the game.
The incident triggered Hassan’s post-match jibe at the wealthy Nigerian side.
“Al-Masry haven’t qualified for the African competition for 15 years. This team doesn’t have any African experience but have ambitions and we won’t change our game-play style,” Hassam told ONsport.
“They [Ifeanyi Ubah] were a tough opponent, they have ambition and their chairman wanted to present them in a unique way in Africa. They believe in sorcery and this is normal in Africa.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“In Africa, people are kind and believe in sorcery, but at the end what is written by God will happen.[/perfectpullquote]
“My target was to please the fans and represent Egyptian football in a good way. We take every match on its own, our target was to qualify then we will see what will happen as the tournament has strong clubs,” the former Zamalek manager said.
In other news making the waves in Egypt is Lionel Messi touching down in the North African country.
The Barcelona star arrived in the North African country yesterday and took a tour of Egypt’s famous pyramids. It’s the 29-year-old’s second visit to the African nation after 2007. The five-time World Best Player of the Year was slated to visit last Wednesday but postponed his trip due to the Catalans game against PSG.
Featured photo: AFP
