MOSCOW: Egypt’s 45-year-old goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary says he feels like he is 20 again.
That’s a dream combination: A 20-year-old with the vast experience gained from a career stretching nearly three decades.
“I have dealt with three generations of players, each one of them was different,” El Hadary said in a recent television interview. “But this generation is just great. People go on about me being 45, but I feel I am like my teammates — like I am 20.”
El-Hadary is not assured of getting any game time for Egypt in the World Cup in Russia but if he does, he will make history.
Whether he is selected to start ahead of Sherif Ekramy or Mohamed Elshenawy or goes on as a substitute, El-Hadary would become the oldest person to play in a World Cup.
Colombia goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon, who was 43 when he played at the last World Cup in Brazil, holds the record.
Egypt opens its campaign against Uruguay on Friday and will meet Russia and Saudi Arabia in other Group A games.
El-Hadary, who enjoys celebrity status in Egypt, has rarely spoken about the age record, preferring instead to focus on the ambitions of the Pharaohs in their first World Cup since 1990. It is a return that has given many of Egypt’s 100 million people a welcome reprieve amid harsh economic conditions.
Being in the World Cup is a particularly special occasion for El-Hadary, who gained fame and respect as the Pharaohs’ goalkeeper when they won three successive African titles between 2006 and 2010. It was a time when the Egypt team was peaking on the continental level, but kept on failing to qualify for the World Cup.
They are here now, and El-Hadary does not hide what it means to him.
“I have a goal that I have dreamt of all my life: That we qualify for the second round,” he said.
This is far from certain since Egypt could be without Liverpool’s star Mohamed Salah, who is recovering from a should injury, at least for the Uruguay game. Salah’s knack for scoring — 44 in all competitions in his debut season with the English club — would be sorely missed by a team that has heavily depended on him.
Still, El Hadary has been doing his part, showing full commitment to earning a starting spot.
During training sessions in Grozny, the team’s base in Russia, El-Hadary appears raring to go, always walking energetically to the pitch ahead of his teammates, and diving at full stretch for saves. In fitness drills, there’s no visible difference between El-Hadary and teammates who are 20 years younger.
But age can take a toll and El-Hadary, notwithstanding his tenacity, is no exception.
He has had an erratic season with his Saudi Arabia club Al-Taawoun and has of late shown glimpses of slower reflexes or bad judgment, most recently during a 3-0 loss in a warmup against Belgium. The Belgians netted twice while El-Hadary was in goal in the first half.
El-Hadary first rose to prominence with Cairo’s Al-Ahly club, but he fell out with management and left in 2008 for Switzerland, where his playing time was cut short by a transfer issue. Al-Ahly fans were upset by his departure, and he has become something of a football nomad, playing for several clubs in Egypt, Sudan and Saudi Arabia.
Egypt’s Essam El-Hadary raring to go if asked to make World Cup history
Egypt’s Essam El-Hadary raring to go if asked to make World Cup history
- At 45, El-Hadary will become oldest player to ever play at the finals
- 'People go on about me being 45, but I feel I am like my teammates — like I am 20'
Inoue, Nakatani aim to set up a showdown in Riyadh’s ‘Night of the Samurai’
TOKYO: Japanese boxing will be center-stage in Saudi Arabia on Dec. 27 when Riyadh hosts “The Ring V: Night of the Samurai,” with two undefeated champions – INOUE Naoya and NAKATANI Junto – likely to set up a Japanese blockbuster in 2026.
The Night of the Samurai will feature several Japanese boxers in world title fights, highlighted by the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, Inoue, who will face off against Mexico’s Alan Picasso, 25, for the 32-year-old Inoue’s unified super-bantamweight belts. Both fighters are undefeated. Inoue has won 31 fights with 27 knockouts, while Picasso has 32 victories and one draw with 17 knockouts.
Nakatani (310, 24 KOs), the unified bantamweight champion, will make his super bantamweight debut against Mexico’s Sebastian Hernandez Reyes (200, 18 KOs), a 24yearold rising star. A win by Nakatani is likely to set up a showdown with Inoue at the Tokyo Dome in May next year.
On the undercard, Willibaldo Garcia will face former world flyweight champion TERAJI Kenshiro for the IBF super-flyweight title; IMANAGA Taiga will meet Armando Martinez in a lightweight bout; and TSUTSUMI Reito will fight Leobardo Quintana in a super-featherweight bout.
The WBA super-featherweight world title fight between TSUTSUMI Hayato and champion Jazza Dickens was canceled because Tsutsumi suffered a facial fracture during a sparring session.
The boxing event is part of the Riyadh Season of cultural, entertainment and sporting events, which is part of the larger Saudi Seasons initiative in support of Saudi Vision 2030.
Saudi Arabia has placed itself at the forefront of boxing promotion in recent years, staging massive title fights and non-title fights such as Anthony Joshua vs. Andy Ruiz, Tyson Fury vs. former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, Deontay Wilder against Zhilei Zhang, and Oleksandr Usyk vs.Joshua.
Turki Alalshikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, has become the most visible boxing promoter in the world and is one of the most influential figures in boxing. The Night of the Samurai will enable him to make his mark in Japan, which has a strong boxing culture.
“Riyadh Season in Saudi Arabia is only going to grow in importance for boxing,” Inoue told Japanese media. The undefeated champion described Alalshikh as “a boxing fan who truly loves the sport.”
Inoue and Riyadh Season inked a $20 million sponsorship deal a year ago and the fight in Riyadh gives the promoter a massive boost in viewership in Japan.
“Fighting in Saudi Arabia for the first time is motivating for me,” Inoue was quoted as saying. “I’ll enter the fight with a fresh mindset. It’s a little different from fighting in Japan, and there are unknowns, but I’m excited.”
