For decades, the Egyptian league had been dominated by Cairo giants Al Ahly and Zamalek football clubs, with some limited challenge offered by Ismaily and Arab Contractors. Both Ismaily and Arab Contractors had significantly receded in the past decade, with the Contractors (now preferring to be known as Al Mokawloon Al Arab) losing their premier league status as they currently campaign in the Egyptian second-tier. Despite their fallen fortunes, the Contractors and Ismaily remain among five other clubs to win the Egyptian league apart from Al Ahly and Zamalek. Amid these events Pyramids FC emerged in 2018 to forcefully stake a claim in the top 3 of the Egyptian league. The club was in fact formed in 2008 as Al Assiouty Sport in Beni Suef, a city 120km south of Cairo. In 2018, a season after the club had returned to premier for its second stint, it was bought by the chairman of the Saudi Sports Authority Turki Al-Sheikh, renamed Pyramids and relocated to New Cairo, a modern metropolit...
When Hugo Broos was announced in May 2021 as the new manager of the South African national football team, the news was received by sneers and jeers if not completely ignored by some of those it affected the most - the SA soccer fraternity. At the time Bafana Bafana, the national team, had not long been labelled a "bunch of losers" by the sports minister Fikile Mbalula. His words cut like a blunt knife, even though the truth is that Bafana were at the time hopeless and lacked confidence. It was fair-game for anyone, including the lowest-ranked nations, to meet Bafana because the chances of scoring a victory over the SA team were real and attainable. So, more than the sports minister, the nation was despondent over Bafana circumstances. Even Broos appointment, despite his known success on the continent, was slammed as that of an old man chasing an easy retirement fund. It was a tough job from the start for the Belgian - having to rouse the players from a comatose of low sel...