There’s a legend that says George Foreman named all of his children George. Who knows if it’s true and I don’t feel like looking it up. But if it’s true a dark nightmare lies in the simple parental process of identifying an individual. Who comes running when you say George?
The manager of the Egyptian national football team has a similar problem as the great boxer/entrepreneur. He manages a squad of 22 where two names are shared by fourteen players. It is one thing to juggle all of them in practices and kickarounds but divulging instructions during the course of a game must be a task impossible.
In Egypt’s final game in the Confederations Cup, the African champions were walloped by three goals to none by the United States. Their named squad of 22 players had nine Ahmeds and five Mohameds. Seven of the 14 were in the starting 11 and two further Ahmeds joined the game as substitutes – although an Ahmed gave way for each new one. They were also missing their top player Mohamed Zidan (which may explain their lack of goals if not the result) so there was a tantalizing potential for 15 Ahmeds and Mohameds in the team! If nothing else, we can safely conclude Ahmed and Mohamed are the two most popular names in Egypt.
For your perusing pleasure, here is a full list of the Ahmeds and Mohameds.
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Ahmed Fathi (started)
Ahmed Faraq (started)
Mohamed Aboutrika (started)
Mohamed Shawky (started)
Ahmed al Muhamadi (started)
Ahmed Eid (started)
Ahmed Abdelghany (started)
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Ahmed Hassan (substitute – mistakenly identified as Hassan Ahmed on some reports)
Ahmed Saidi (substitue)
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Mohamed Sobhy (unused substitute)
Ahmed Kairy (unused substitute)
Mohamed Homos (unused substitute)
Ahmed Raouf (unused substitute)
Mohamed Abougrisha (unused substitute)
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