Ghazal ready to kick off ‘dream’ season
Egyptian will join national team for first World Cup appearance since ’90
The last time Egypt was in the World Cup, Aly Ghazal wasn’t even a glint in his parents’ eyes.
The Whitecaps midfielder was born in 1992. Egypt played in the 1990 tournament in Italy, but managed just a solitary goal. They have bigger ambitions this time around, even if they missed out on the last six editions of the big dance.
“We want to do something for the country,” Ghazal said Tuesday after his team called off their regular training session and instead went for a run through the woods near their University of B.C. training base.
“We are building up, we went to the final of the African championship. (Egypt lost to Cameroon in the final of last year’s Africa Cup of Nations.)
“(Playing in the World Cup), it’s something big for the country. I’m doing my best to be there in the World Cup, I’m looking forward to the next camp. It’s a dream for everyone to be in the World Cup.”
During the off-season, he travelled home to Egypt to visit his family and friends. He also went to Belgium, where his wife is from, to see more family.
“It’s always nice to see my family, my parents, my friends,” he said. “Even just to see my country, especially when you leave Vancouver when it’s raining and cold ... it’s nice there in Egypt.”
The makeup of the current team, he pointed out, is quite different from past groups. Whereas the 1990 squad was almost entirely domestic, with just two players playing abroad, most of the players in contention to go to Russia this summer play outside of Egypt.
For whatever reason, Egyptians are looking to find success abroad more than in the past.
“It was just the mentality of the (current) players. Before us, there were not a lot of Egyptian players playing in Europe,” he said. “Since we were young, our generation wanted to play in other countries, different from older generations. And people are looking more now for Egyptian players.”
Just before his 21st birthday in early 2013, Ghazal moved to Nacional in Portugal’s Primeira Liga from Egyptian Premier League club Wadi Degla. It was a move that he said was difficult. A new language, a new culture.
“It was hard, everything was new to me,” he recalled.
But it proved to be worth it. He spent four years in Portugal, becoming Nacional’s captain in 2016. After the club was relegated, he made a move to Guizhou Zhicheng in the Chinese Super League. He never played a game there, though, as the Chinese Football Association imposed stricter foreign-player quotas. He eventually was released by Guizhou and landed with the Caps in August. The mid-season move wasn’t as hard as his first move to Portugal, he said.
“Now I’m more experienced, it’s OK. When I moved here, it was no problem,” he said.
But having a full pre-season, as he’s getting now, that’s much better: “When you start with the team from pre-season, it gets easier for communication, for everything.”
And it’ll set him up well for making the World Cup squad, he hopes.
“Yes, it’s a target for me, but at the moment I’m just concentrating just on the Whitecaps to make a good season until it’s time for the World Cup. I’ll work for that through the Whitecaps. If I’m doing well here, I’ll be doing well there.”