Most of football fans in Egypt know what his brilliant years with Al-Ahly were and how the end was; But most likely they do not know the beginning of the story of Muhammad Abu Trika in the first place.
From Al-Tarsana Club, Abu Trika began his journey and there he trained until he mastered and learned until he matured and emerged even shining.
How was he dazzled in the acceptance tests, how did he master playing with the external foot, why he almost did not continue with the arsenal, what is the reason for not playing for the national team, and more ..
FilGoal.com He accompanies you on a journey of exploration for the years of the formation of Muhammad Abu Trika, between the walls and stadiums of the Tersana Club.
5 minutes is enough
At the age of 12, Abu Trika went to the test at Tarsana club. The decision came days after Al-Ahly’s tests were rejected under the pretext of its small size.
At that time, Abouda El-Hamalawy was the director of the junior sector in the arsenal, who decided to accept Abu Trika after only 5 minutes of participating in a mini-match.
El-Hamalawy says toFilGoal.com: “On the day of the tests, we will have a large group of players. We saw everyone and there were only 12 players left.”
“I divided them into two groups. 6 against 6 in a third of the stadium only, and Abu Trika was among them.”
“Abu Trika received the ball with his face forward looking at the field, not the ball, unlike the players. He passed it to his teammate … then he moved to get it again, and he remained like this, handing the ball and then receiving it.”
“After 4-5 minutes, I said to him: You are with us. You will come tomorrow to participate in the training. Then I told the administrator (Do the necessary to register him. He became a player with us) and he was.”
“I did this because the Zamalek club was directly in front of us, and if anyone saw it and informed Zamalek of his talent, it is possible for them to include him without our knowledge.”
Geographically, only a main street separates Al-Tarsana and Zamalek. Therefore, there is a historical competition between the two clubs that ceased with the relegation of Al Shakish to the second division.
Regarding Al-Hamalawi asking Abu Trika to “Tantit” the ball 150 times during the tests, he said: “It is not correct. What is the benefit if he does that and does not do anything on the field?”
Two months after going to training, the child Abu Trika stopped attending the club, and here al-Hamlawi remembers, “I went to the Sunni group in which he was playing and told them: Does anyone have a relationship with Abu Trika? To the club headquarters. “
“I learned that financial conditions were the reason, and I gave him 150 pounds to be an allowance for him to attend the training session, and we extracted his card for him in order to get a monthly salary from the club.”
After Abu Trika returned to the team, he became one of the main elements of his under-13 team.
Al-Hamalawy recalls, “Abu Trika led the arsenal to obtain the title of the Republic Championship under 13 years at the expense of Zamalek.”
–Beyond the technique
What distinguished Abu Trika was his taking the most appropriate decision in the fastest time and with the most accurate touch of the ball. Qualities that only a few players enjoy.
Technique Abu Trika in playing football is the reason for this advantage. It is true that his years of brilliance were with Hassan Shehata, who was developing this aspect among the players, but his period in the arsenal laid this strong foundation.
Abdel Mohsen Al-Tunisi, the Abu Trika coach of the Under-17 team, played a key role in this.
Al-Tunisi says toFilGoal.com: “A youngster does not have everything, he has some skills, but they only need to be developed.”
He explained, “He was talented from a young age and received the basics of football and was a captain on the field, so we only developed a few things. Abu Trika did not follow us like the rest of the players.”
“He was quick to respond and helped us a lot because his physique was better than his peers and taller faster.”
“His potential was great, so we expected that he would continue with the arsenal for a long time.”
“He did not make any problems with the players, but he was a captain and guided them calmly. This is a great advantage because the youngsters are affected quickly if someone talks to them in an inappropriate way.”
The face of Abu Trika’s foot is one of his distinctive signs, and his left-foot goal in Sfaxien in the 2006 CAF Champions League final made him a popular hero for Al-Ahly fans, and from the arsenal he mastered these aspects thanks to the instructions of the Tunisian.
Al-Tunisi explained how he added to Abu Trika some things that made him able to implement what he thinks.
He says, “He would have preferred to play with football (and what a man) from the midfield, but it was slow, so we talked to make the ball faster.”
He reveals, “I told him: In principle, you have to be more focused, then lift your face up to reveal the field so as not to collide with the opponent with your body bending forward very slightly. Do not run with the ball quickly because you will not be able to play the ball perfectly because it will be far from your feet and will not control it.” You will not play the ball accurately and may lose it in the first place. “
Also, I was asking him not to run with the ball as much as his colleagues, and to look left and right to see where the players are, as you are playing behind the offensive pair.
“If the opponent applies man-to-man control on you, then you should not possess too much possession of the ball to pass it to one side of the field and not the depth, in order not to lose the ball and bounce back at us with a counter-kick.”
This is about the face of the foot, so what about the left foot? Al-Tunisi answers: “He did not play with the left foot like the right foot, but he used it for short passes.”
“Sometimes he would dodge a player on the left side and then get caught up; he would change the field with his left foot easily. It is true that she was not like the right-hand man, but she was reaching for his teammate.”
Accuracy was the title of his use of his head, “He used to play with his head well. Sometimes we asked him to advance in high balls because he was tall, and he did not play with his head like Ali Abu Greisha or Jamal Abdel Hamid, but he was playing the ball accurately and not strongly, as he expected wonderfully.”
The Tunisian recounts that he used to ask Abu Trika to come to play as a striker sometimes because my attacking heart was unable to score goals; He was stationed in the penalty area and scored.
This was about open play, and playing set pieces was almost exactly the same. “He was brilliant at fouling from both sides of the field. From the right he was doing it with the outside face of the foot and from the left he was shooting it with the big toe of his foot to the left of the goalkeeper.”
Al-Tunisi recalled a stance against the “Batta” team from Qalyubia in the Republic League. “We advanced 3-0 during the first half, and Abu Trika scored a goal and before the end of the game they tied with us.”
“Between the two halves of the match, I asked Hassan El Shazly and Mustafa Kamel, the team supervisor, not to enter the locker room in order to speak with the players.”
“I was so violent with them that I told them (We will return to Cairo by transportation and will not use the club’s car if we do not win), but my talk came with a positive result and the match ended 6-3 and scored two goals, and we rose to third place behind Al-Ahly and Zamalek in the table.”
After the match, Abu Trika told me, “If you were violent with us from the beginning, captain, what happened in the first half would not have happened.”
Before the start
At the age of 18, Abu Trika stepped up to play for the Under-19 team that was coached by Raafat Makki. An escalation that Makki said toFilGoal.com That it was only happening to “special players” …
Makki continued, “When he played under 19 with me, he would distribute his effort during the 90 minutes.”
“He was very smart. When he was on the right, the opponent’s players would run towards him, and with one touch he moved the ball to the left side.”
But the march of Abu Trika would not have continued with the arsenal for the second time, were it not for chance.
After Abu Trika finished high school, she came with the result of coordination by joining a college in Alexandria, so he did not go much to the club because of his studies.
El-Hamalawy says toFilGoal.comOne day, I met one of my colleagues, who works at Cairo University, during one of the matches, and was amazed at seeing her.
“I asked him what he did and he told me that he came to see a player called (Abu Tika) or something similar to play with the university team, so I said to him: Abu Trika do you mean? He is not here because his university is in Alexandria, can you transfer him to Cairo? I asked him enthusiastically.”
“The transfer was completed and Abu Trika returned to Cairo, joined with us and joined the Cairo national team.”
–With the first team
In the 1996-1997 season, Makki coached the first team for Arsenal; And with him, Abu Trika ascended.
Al-Tarsana coach Shaker Abdel-Fattah remembers the scenes of Abu Trika’s escalation to the first teamـFilGoal.com: “Because of the players’ strike or something similar, Makki did not have enough players in the first team, so a number of youngsters, including Abu Trika, rose to power.”
As for Makki, he said toFilGoal.com: “After I coached the first team, I escalated it immediately.”
“In the 1996-1997 season, he played his first match against the Suez national team, which was friendly, and he participated in the second half, and when the (B) Premier League started, we played against Al-Sharqiya Al-Dukhan in the sub-stadium of the Arab Contractors stadium, and it was his first official match.”
Makki remembers how Abu Trika was at the top of his focus during the matches, citing what happened against Al Mansoura, “We were playing on their stadium, and the fans filled the stands, and in one of the balls everyone thought he was an offside. So he scored and we won this goal. “
In the 1999-2000 season, Abu Trika shone very much and led the arsenal to return to the Premier League in the 2000-2001 season, where Shaker Abdel Fattah was the technical director of the team.
Makki describes his performance this season, “He was playing freely, making goals and scoring them by advancing from the back to the front. Hamada Imam’s saying (coming from behind) applies to him. This is how Abu Trika used to enter the penalty area.”
Abdel Fattah says about Abu Trika in this season forFilGoal.com: “The 2001-2002 season started to emerge. This is the last season that saw Arsenal supremacy in the league. The team continued in the top 3 for 13 weeks.”
“His brilliance also continued until the 2002-03 season, after my departure from the team.”
At this time, the arsenal had a distinguished group, Abu Trika helped a lot, because whatever the star’s potential, he would not play alone, and it included Ahmed Zaghloul, the Syrian Muhannad Al-Boushi, Moamen Abdel Ghaffar, Hussein Shukri, Imad Ayoub, who was a young and was unknown, and Muhammad Omar and Ahmed Ikrami.
“The presence of Abu Trika helped Ayoub shine. Sometimes I did not use it because all eyes were on him, and this is what Ayoub benefited from, who was not known from the league teams at the time.”
“But this does not mean that he is not present or presented a negative role, but rather he was always trying and moving forward in order to register.”
Abdel-Fattah magnified Abu Trika’s capabilities, and said: “The capabilities of Abu Trika in the arsenal did not differ from the one with which he appeared in Al-Ahly, but there are different situations.”
“The masses did not see Abu Trika much with the arsenal. When with us, his responsibility was greater and he was making a greater effort and his production was more, because all the teams were always watching him.”
“But in Al-Ahly there are more than one unique player, such as Mohamed Barakat, Imad Mutaib and Flavio, so the opponents were confused about it and did not censor a specific player.”
–A warrior of great powers
In 1999, Abu Trika was 21 years old, and at that time the Olympic team was preparing for the Sydney Olympic qualifiers, which were to be held in 2000.
Abu Trika joined the Olympic team, although Al-Arsenal was playing in the second division – because of his brilliance, which we mentioned to him before – after he received a summons from Zigi Held and Abdel Aziz Abdel Shafi, but he did not play in the main.
After failing to reach the Olympics, Abu Trika appeared with the senior team during Anwar Salameh’s tenure, and participated in a friendly match against the Arab Contractors in 2001; But after the match he did not receive any new international summons.
Abdel Fattah believes that “what happened with Abu Trika should be a model in that the process of selecting players for the national team should not be from the great powers – meaning Al-Ahly and Zamalek.”
He added, “It is true that he joined the first team in 2001 with a choice from Anwar Salama, but after his departure following a difference of views, he did not join again until he moved to Al-Ahly.”
Abdel Fattah reclaimed their attempts to join Abu Trika to the national team, “We used to wonder a lot (how could he not join the national team?) And when he joined the Olympic team, he did not play.”
“We saw his right to play and serve his country.”
“When we spoke with the officials, they told us (he is a slow player), how? Are we going to race cars? The characteristics of the players are always different.”
“When Abu Trika passed away, he was 26 years old, that is, at the age of maturity, he was 100% mature if not 200%, and then he joined the national team, so why was he not chosen when he was in the arsenal?”
–Move to my family
Shaker Abdel Fattah assured that “he has a strong personality on the field. He was able to implement what you say to him and this is what helps the coach.”
This is also one of the reasons Al-Ahly chose him and his success with the team.
Raafat Makki told meFilGoal.com Behind the scenes of his departure from the arsenal, he said: “When professionalism was applied in Egypt at the request of Mahmoud El-Gohary, the decision stipulated the freedom to transfer any youngster to any team on the condition of spending 6 years with his team, which he represented in the junior stage.”
And he continued, “This is what was applied to Abu Trika.”
He added, “Hassan Farid, the club president, sent me and I was the coach of the team after Hassan Al-Shazly and he told me Al-Ahly wanted him for 400 thousand. So I told him (only 400 thousand?), So he told me that he would not leave for free at the end of the season and we lose the value of his transfer.”
He finished “he played with us in the first round of the 2003-2004 season, then moved to Al-Ahly in January.”
He lost the arsenal of Abu Trika, so he fell to the second class; As for him, his legend began to achieve all the championships with Al-Ahly.
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