Salute to Dortmund´s Pharaoh
Mohamed Zidan has won his 2nd African Cup of Nations (ACN) title with the Egyptian squad.It was even the 3rd title in a row for Egypt, but Zidan turned down the opportunity to play in ACN 2006, when the winning streak started. He is the only player in Borussia´s current squad, who has the exclusive experience of winning an international title.
A Pharao´s campaign in southern realms
He played an important role in Egypt´s successful campaign in Angola in January, as he started in five of the six matches and scored the important 2:0 in the semi-finals, which broke the resistance of North-African rivals Algeria and paved the way for the 4:0 landslide. This duel was rated as even more important than the final by most of Egypt´s followers, because of the hatred that surrounded the clash of these teams in world cup qualification, where Algeria eliminated Egypt 1:0 in a tie-breaking play-off, after both teams finished the group on equal points and goal difference. Mohamed did not hesitate to fuel the flames, when he predicted “a game like no other in the world” which would be “like war for both teams” and “a matter of life and death”. Taking into account, that three Algerian players were sent off during the game, one must concede, that Mo was not completely off the mark.
In a rather uneventful final against German World Cup opponents Ghana, Zidan helped to break the tie, when he provided Mohamed Gedo with a perfectly timed assist, which Egypt´s top-joker (5 goals in 6 games as substitute) chipped past goalie Richard Kingson into the far corner of the goal. Zidan surprised his fans with a new haircut for the finale, symbolising his love for the game. When this turned out, to be part of a controversial guerilla marketing campaign of a sportswear company, that currently tries to improve its street credibility, one can only hope, that he did not open a door for a new advertising space in professional football.
The tournament was overshadowed by the terrorist attack on the national team of Togo, which caused the death of 2 members of the delegation and left many more including two players injured. The team, travelling by bus to the venue in the Angolan exclave Cabinda, was attacked by separatists with machine guns. This lead to Togo´s withdrawal, which ironically caused the African Football Federation to ban Togo from the next two ACN in 2012 and 2014. This was justified with the intervention of Togo´s president, who called the team home after the attack. The team had agreed to play, but one can imagine the pressure, that was put on the traumatised players by organisers and local authorities, who had an obvious interest, to keep the illusion of a normal event alive. It is a shame, that the team, that has suffered severely already, will be punished further by this bureaucratic act.
But this terrible incident and its controversial aftermath should not diminish the Egyptian achievement, as Togo, placed in group B with tournament favourites Ghana and Ivory Coast, could hardly be considered to be able to make it through the group stage.
After three days of celebration in Egypt (Klopp: “No problem. The national drink of Egypt is water”) and only two days of training with the team, Zidan has made a remarkable comeback at BVB, when he was one of Borussia´s stronger players in the 2:3 loss against Frankfurt and provided the assists to both our goals.
A Pharaoh as rolling stone in Europe
It is quite an unusual career path for a young Egyptian footballer to seek his fortune abroad, because most top Egyptian players stay in their country of birth, since the top teams like Al Ahly or Zamalek pay reasonably well. Only four members of the Egyptian squad, that won ACN 2010, play abroad and Zidan is the only one with a contract in western Europe.
Young Mohamed had the dream to make it into one of Europe´s top leagues and so he left his homeland aged 18 and moved to Denmark, where he was signed by Superliga side AB Copenhagen in 99/00. At this point in his career Zidan had to work as kitchen help besides playing football. His best time in Denmark came in season 03/04 after a move to FC Midtjylland. In this year Zidan was Denmark´s top scorer and was elected Danish player of the year.
These achievements caught the eye of Bundesliga side Werder Bremen, who signed Zidan for €3.5m in january 2005. In his first two games at Bremen Zidan scored one goal each, but soon thereafter got injured and could not find a place in Bremen´s starting line-up. So he was loaned to Mainz 05 for the following season, where he was a regular starter and 2nd best goalgetter of the team. After his return to Bremen, Zidan was not able to keep up his performance, he had shown in Mainz and since FSV Mainz was struggling to avoid relegation, they bought Mo in winter 07 for a fee of €2.8m.
After a fantastic half year for Zidan in Mainz, where he played excellently and scored 13 goals in 15 matches, HSV transferred him for €5.8m. Just one year later Mo moved on, to join the mighty BV Borussia of Dortmund.
To say Mohamed had a rough start in Dortmund, would be euphemistic. To tell the plain truth, it was a shock to BVB supporters, when his transfer from Hamburg was announced in summer 2008. To lose the top scorer of 07/08 Mladen Petric, who went to Hamburg in exchange for Zidan plus €4.5m, just one day before the start of the season, was especially scary, since our other top striker Alex Frei had returned injured from Euro 08 and it was uncertain, when he would be fit enough to help the team.
Since his stay at HSV had not been a success, to say the least (only 2 goals in 21matches), Dortmund was filled with doubts, whether Mohamed Zidan would be able to replace Petric. Zidan had been able to show his full potential in the Bundesliga only in Mainz under coach Jürgen Klopp. But in Hamburg as well as in Bremen he could never prove to be worth the money, the clubs had paid for him.
In Hamburg Zidan is mostly remembered for his extravagant outfits and sports cars. One episode, made public by his coach at HSV Huub Stevens, is especially legendary. After returning from Africa Cup of Nations 2008, Zidan entered the HSV locker room with a Luis Vuitton bag filled with €200.000 in cash, showing off his bonus for winning the cup.
His over-performance in Mainz was assumed, to be caused by Klopp´s defensive strategy with only one striker, that suited Mo´s strengths perfectly. As he is a very quick player with a good dribbling game, Mo is a lethal weapon in counter attacks. But in stronger teams like Bremen and Hamburg Zidan´s weaknesses became more obvious. His tactical understanding leaves something to be desired and it often seems, as if he wants to take on the opposite team single-handedly. When he takes his head down and starts running towards three or more defenders, it is often painful to watch for his supporters, as he stubbornly tries to dribble around all of them and has no eye for better positioned team-mates.
Zidan’s confidence crumbled in his third game for Borussia, when Klopp took him off the pitch in the Derby at 0:3. He was the target of the BVB supporters´ rage and was booed and whistled at and had to stand on the sideline and watch Alex Frei make his miraculous comeback, scoring twice to finish the match at 3:3. Never before has a draw felt so much like winning. It was a delight to watch our arch-rivals stumble out of the Westfalenstadion, totally puzzled and with no idea why they had given away the Derby in the last 23 minutes of the match.
Pharaoh settled in overseas realm?
But even though Zidan did not conquer a permanent place in Dortmund´s starting line-up, he scored some valuable goals for Borussia, his first three goals alone earned five points for the team.
Mo has won the respect of many BVB followers in the meantime, but some still look sceptically at his game. His style of play does not exactly meet the blood, sweat and tears expectations of the typical Dortmund fan, though he runs a lot for the team and is not afraid of the occasional defensive tackle. But with his free-spirited, risky offensive style, which leads to spectacular but often ineffective dribbling and many lost balls, he can drive even the well-meaning spectator to the brink of despair.
At the start of this season, Zidan found himself on the bench, but after three games as substitute, he became a regular starter. When Tamas Hajnal got injured and Klopp changed the system to only one real striker, Zidan had to show his ability, to do well in an unknown position, as he had to play behind Lucas Barrios in central offensive midfield. Though he is no real playmaker, his quickness and technique enable him to create space and opportunities for the central striker.
It is likely though, that Zidan will move back to his usual position, once the absentee list releases some more options in midfield for coach Klopp.
When Zidan was in Egypt to celebrate with his team, news reached Dortmund, that sounded like fairy-tales from Thousand and One Nights. Zidan chased by Arsenal, Manchester United and Barcelona, the headlines stated. Source of these fantastic rumours was apparently Mo´s father Abdullah Zidan, who mentioned the interest of these giants of international football in an interview with Egyptian Dream-TV. It seems, that dad was still a bit flashed by the victory, when he made that statement. Or maybe coach Klopp was not right about Egyptian party habits after all.
It seems more likely, that our Pharao will remain in Dortmund at least till 2012, when his current contract runs out, as coach Klopp knows Mo´s talents and seems confident, that his unorthodox game can contribute to the success of the team. So the crowd at the Westfalenstadion should better be prepared, to accompany the Egyptian sunny-boy on his narrow path between genius and insanity.
Enter the temple at your own risk, because BVB assumes no liability for heart attacks or other stress related casualties.
Web, 16.02.2010
