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Al-Ahram Weekly 5 - 11 August 1999 Issue No. 441 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 5 - 11 August 1999 Issue No. 441
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Focus Interview Features Travel Living Sports Time Out Chronicles People Cartoons Letters Life on the pitch
As a veteran football fan, I followed the Egypt-Saudi Arabia match in Mexico with some interest. First, I felt we really should congratulate the Saudi Arabian team on their performance. This shows how well trained they are, a fact we must take into proper consideration. Saudi Arabia's interest in sports is fairly recent, when compared with ours, for instance. How, then, can we explain the result? I see it as an indicator of other things in other lives: science, technology, industry, exports... In all these fields, we find that relatively late starters have made astonishing progress, surpassing us by far. Is this because, in starting late, they had access to the most sophisticated techniques, while we are still using the old ways to which we are accustomed? Is it because they felt they had to catch up, and therefore redoubled their efforts to advance, while we rested on our laurels?
We must ask ourselves all these difficult questions, and submit our accomplishments and setbacks to serious scrutiny. We must also realise that some of those who were behind us have caught up, and even drawn ahead: now we must catch up with them, if we still hope to preserve our special position in the region -- whether in football or in other fields. Football in Egypt goes back a century, after all -- but that is another story.
Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.
