AHMED ELMOHAMADY: Hull have signed some good players this season and with Bruce as manager there is no reason we can't finish in top 10

Published: 01:30 EST, 25 September 2013 | Updated: 04:42 EST, 25 September 2013

Ahmed Elmohamady is an Egyptian footballer who plays as a winger for Hull City. The midfielder moved to England when Steve Bruce signed him, initially on loan, for Sunderland in 2010. He followed Bruce to Hull and helped the Tigers win promotion to the Premier League. Elmohamady became an internet sensation when he was caught on camera dancing when Watford lost to Leeds on the final day of the season which meant the Tigers were promoted. Elmohamady was part of the Egyptian squads that won the 2008 and 2010 African Nations Cups. Before you read his Footballers' Football Column, watch his freestyle video below...

 

El Mohamady Sportsmail Freestyle

I am ready for a few sleepless nights. My son Malik was born last month and I will soon start getting up to help my wife Heba tend to him when he wakes up at night. She says I am good at burping him. Right now he is sleeping.

He was born on August 27, an amazing coincidence. It is my lucky number and has been my shirt number throughout my entire career.

I knew going into the match with Newcastle that if I scored I would celebrate with a dance for my son. I first did that dance on the final game of last season when we secured promotion from the Championship and it was filmed and put on the internet. It is still a big thing.

Loving life: Ahmed Elmohamady is enjoying life in the Premier League with Hull

We were waiting in the tunnel to find out if our 2-2 draw with Cardiff would be enough and when it became clear it was I went crazy.

It’s a huge thing when you get promoted, and we were waiting 12 minutes for the other game to finish.

Everyone speaks to me about this dancing. Some people stop me in Hull and mention it. It’s a good thing for me. When I was at Sunderland I did it once before with Asamoah Gyan. You know African people like to dance when they score – that’s where it came from. It’s character.

Afterwards people – my friends from Egypt – called me to speak with me about the dancing, not about the promotion. No one said to me, ‘Congratulations’. They all said to me, ‘Oh you were on TV dancing!’

It’s the craziest day I’ve been involved in. Everyone was watching.

It was a similarly great feeling to score at St James’s Park on Saturday. To get three points away from home is a fantastic result and we have to maintain this level going forward.

I thought going into the match we would get something and now we have to win points from the games coming –West Ham and Aston Villa. I think we will.

In fact, this season we will finish in the top ten. Listen, we have a really good manager, Steve Bruce has experience in the Premier League. The players he brought for the club are from the top level, like Tom Huddlestone and Jake Livermore from Tottenham, Danny Graham, Yannick Sagbo and Gedo. They are really quality players.

When we played Manchester City and Chelsea – top teams – we played very well. We were just unlucky with some chances to score. Now we are 11th but I think we will finish in the top ten.

Steve Bruce means everything to me here in England. The manager has brought me from Egypt to Sunderland and he went to Hull and I went with him. I am proud to work with this manager. He is a very good man, I like him.

He has always spoken to me and given me advice, even about life outside football.

I first met him three years ago when I came to Sunderland for the medical test. I knew him before from Wigan because two players from Egypt played for them – Mido and Zaki.

When I first came he said, ‘Don’t be like Zaki’. He had played fantastically well but it ended with some trouble. Zaki scored a lot of goals up until January that year but then got injured against Zambia for the national team and he didn’t get back to England, he just stayed for a week in Egypt.

Winning away: Elmohamady celebrates at the end of the Premier League win over Newcastle

Skip to the beat: Elmohamady dances on the St James' Park pitch after the 3-2 win over Newcastle

The manager said to me, ‘You’re coming from a different country and coming to the best league in the world. If you want to stay in England for a long time you have to listen to me and the people here, who have experience.’ This is what I did.

He was the reason I dropped down a level. He convinced me. I played almost every game under him at Sunderland in the Premier League but when Martin O’Neill came in I didn’t play, he didn’t give me a chance.

We won some games, lost some games, but he didn’t change the team. Every manager gives players the chance, he never gave me the chance.

That’s why after the season finished I wanted to go out. I wanted to play. Before that I had played every game. O’Neill always told me, “I will give you a chance” but he never gave me a chance to play and show him what I have.

Forming a bond: Steve Bruce signed Elmohamady for Sunderland

Dropping down: Bruce convinced Elmohamady to drop into the Championship and join Hull

What I do have is great pace. I work every day to get quicker. When I was 11 I ran 100m in 14 seconds, now I can run 100m in 11 seconds. I just like watching Usain Bolt run and learning from it. I watched him win gold at the Olympics in London last year back in Egypt.

It’s a good thing for me in this league because you have to be quick, you have to be strong.

I am Muslim and observe Ramadan where he can. I eat before games but sometimes I fast in the training days. I don’t to go out much and prefer sitting at with my family flicking through football matches from around the world. I watch Premier League games as well as those in Europe and Africa.

I have been in the Egyptian national side since 2007 and lifted the Africa Cup of Nations in 2008 and 2010. It’s been too long since we qualified for a World Cup though – 1990 was the last time.

I hope we can end the wait by winning our two-legged play-off against Ghana later this year.We are playing against one of the best teams in the continent. It’s been 23 years since we’ve been to a World Cup but one step now. We have to concentrate very well and be together.

Ready for battle: Elmohamady is confident Hull can stay in the Premier League

Growing in numbers: Gedo and Hull owner Assem Allam are also from Hull

Everyone wants this team in Brazil next year. We must show the world what we have and make the country proud.

A lot of people are now watching Hull in Egypt. I have Gedo (Mohamed Nagy) for company again this year and our owner is Assem Allam, another Egyptian. He is a very good guy. He’s clever. He brought the club up to a good situation and I hope more Egyptians come here and play in the Premier League.

I heard about this change from Hull City to Hull Tigers but it’s his decision. It doesn’t make a difference for me.

Gedo is my best mate in the national team. He’s a really good guy and a really good player. He can score goals here. It’s very good for Hull and very good for my country.

Players can get experience and bring it to the national team. We mainly speak English to each other – only a little bit of Arabic.

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