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There Is No Way Back For Ghaly At Feyenoord

Date: 13-10-2005
Wrote: EP's editor Islam Issa

As EgyptianPlayers.com and its visitors have been following, the Ghaly-Koeman saga has been going on and on. Even if it's not getting any worse within the Rotterdam club, it seems as though Ghaly will definitely leave in January. To add to this, despite Shinji Ono's injury, Ghaly will most likely not get his chance.

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The last two times Ghaly has played in the Dutch League, in September, against Heerenveen and FC Twente, have seen the following line-ups:



Against Heerenveen Shinji Ono was unavailable, as is the case quite often. Koeman chose Ghaly, Paauwe and the more attacking Pardo to cover for Ono. However, the Twente game shows that with Ono available, Pardo moves to the bench.

This shows that beyond doubt, Pardo will replace Ono directly, after the Japan international picked up an injury that will keep him out for around six weeks.

Now, in the last game, where Ghaly was dropped, the young De Guzman took his place. This was Feyenoord's first defeat, and thus questions were posed as to whether Ghaly will be back in the line-up.

It is quite clear that Koeman likes to play with this formation, and those kind of midfielders, so it is almost definitely going to be Pardo, Paauwe and De Guzman in the next game.


Such a conclusion can be made after both the head coach Koeman and the technical director hinted that it is the end of Ghaly's chances of starting. They added that the Egyptian must convince them in training, in the coming months, if he is to get playing time. It is now known that the midfielder won't be in the first eleven for a while.

Technical director Mark Wotte stated, "He (Ghaly) will have to prove on the training field, and possibly as a substitute if Koeman wants to use him, that he has learnt from the situation, and can fulfil the orders of the coach."

Clearly, Erwin Koeman has reached a dead end with Ghaly, as Wotte even says "if Koeman wants" to put him on. But still there is that possibility of coming on as a replacement, quite likely for teenager De Guzman.

Despite leaving Ghaly out of their immediate line-up plans, Feyenoord are refusing to comment any more on the issue and have even quietened it down. Many predict that this is in order to keep a fine image of Ghaly alive, and not hype up the problem, which may have increased further when Ghaly apparently left for international duty without permission.

There is only one reason why Feyenoord are doing this: to get a good price for Ghaly come winter...