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By Keiran Gorsky
How can you be candid with children – how can you communicate the harshest truths that might not be so conducive to childhood? Maybe you see yourself in their eyes.
Jonathan David’s long-time coach with the Gloucester Hornets and Ottawa Internationals was Hanny El-Magraby, whom David largely credits with moulding him into the player he is today. He’s the one who told David, in no uncertain terms, that he might not get to be a normal kid.
“With this talent, you have a choice to make,” El-Magraby recited his speech to the Ottawa Sports Pages in the lead-up to the 2026 FIFA men’s World Cup. “You’re either gonna go out on bike rides and meet up with your friends and play PlayStation or you’re gonna truly do what it takes to chase a dream.”
That speech landed on the ears of all of El-Magraby’s ambitious cohort, many of whom followed him from youth soccer all the way up the totem pole. It’s a speech he dearly wishes someone had given him.
Growing up in Ottawa, El-Magraby was a soccer kid before Canada was accommodating of soccer kids. He was talented, but never technically proficient. After a brief spell with Canada’s U17 men’s national team, long before the dawn of the Canadian Premier League, university ball felt like a dead end.
He landed a few trials with Egyptian clubs in his mid-20s, though they didn’t culminate in professional contracts. El-Magraby felt as if he learned too many foundational skills just a little too late.
“My dad was my coach growing up and he taught me everything I know, so he did his best with me,” El-Magraby explained. “But at the same time, there’s certain things that a young player needs to do to be a professional player. I probably didn’t get that advice as a young player, the same advice that I gave. It’s probably one of the reasons that I spoke that way with the players because I learned from my own experience.”
El-Magraby still found a way to embed himself in the game. He had volunteered as a soccer coach in high school and then with youth groups and summer camps in Ottawa. While testing for a coaching license, he landed a coaching job with the Hornets, his own childhood team, when he impressed a club director.
With David as the speedy star and league scoring champion, the Hornets became one of the first local squads to find success at the top provincial level, topping the U15 standings in the Ontario Youth Soccer League.
“(Hanny) is a very caring person,” said Omar Habush, a former teammate of David’s and now a coach at West Ottawa Soccer Club. “He’s hardcore but he cares a lot. He wants stuff to be done in a certain way and at a high level.”
A difference in leadership philosophy eventually led to El-Magraby’s split with the Hornets, but core players stuck together and moved on to the Ottawa Internationals to play men’s soccer while they were still teenagers.
“It was a mutual kind of feeling between myself and the players and the parents that they wanted me to stay with their group permanently,” El-Magraby recalled. “That’s also what I wanted. I felt like we were doing something special together.”
El-Magraby placed a special emphasis on technical acumen he himself had never mastered. Before and after team sessions, players were encouraged to spend as much time as possible with the ball at their feet – El-Magraby likened it to getting to know a friend. It isn’t hard to see the parallels to David’s current game, the deft outside operator that he has become.
Up through the youth ranks, and to the Ottawa Internationals, this tight-knit bunch followed their leader. Among El-Magraby’s other students were Kareem Sow, Monti Mohsen and Benson Fazili, who all went on to play professionally at home or abroad. From age 16 on, the team played at the senior level in the Ottawa Carleton Soccer League.
Some of that cohort still play under El-Magraby to this day. If they didn’t make it to the top, they still get to tell stories about the years they spent alongside the best striker the country has ever produced.
It was a difficult bargain they were asked to strike, but for Habush and peers, there is no regret.
“Honestly, I think it’s one of the best periods of my life when I look back at it,” Habush said.
Jonathan David crafts a moment Canada will never forget
How’s that for a response?
After a quiet start, Jonathan David stormed back with a hat-trick as Canada trounced Qatar 6-0 for its first ever win at the World Cup on Thursday in Vancouver. It marked his third three-goal outing for the Canadian men and the first hat-trick for a World Cup host nation since 1966.
“No one will forget this, and no Canadian will forget this day,” said coach Jesse Marsch after the match. “It’s an incredibly seminal moment for everyone to understand that there’s talent in this country, that there’s mentality, that there’s desire, that there’s a lot of things that make this country special.”
All three goals showcased the 26-year-old’s lightning-quick reaction time. It took him only an instant to line himself up for a powerful volley to make it 2-0 when Tajon Buchanan’s long-range effort came off a Qatari defender. Goalkeeper Mahmud Abunada caught a piece of the ball, but only enough to guide it into the corner of goal.
David and Qatari defender Boualem Khoukhi launched themselves at the ball in first half added time when Cyle Larin’s header sent Abunada sprawling the wrong way. David just managed to get a boot on the rebound to extend the Canadian lead to three.
David wrapped up the scoring late in the match, turning away from his defender just in time to stop Nathan Saliba’s weak long-range effort from skittering wide. He blasted it home past an exasperated Abunada.
“It was amazing. After every goal, it got louder and gave us even more hunger, more determination to get the next one,” David said after the match.
The result put Canada on top of Group B with one match remaining. A win or a draw against Switzerland on Wednesday would win them the group. David is tied with Lionel Messi as the World Cup’s leading goal scorer in the competition’s early goings.
The match was preceded by a jubilant march to the stadium, led by Canada Soccer’s supporters group the Voyageurs. Thousands of fans made the trek from Fionn MacCool’s pub near Vancouver’s Science World, singing and cheering as they went.
“It’s amazing,” said one local fan wearing a David jersey. “I’ve been waiting for this for, I don’t know, a decade plus?”
“Everybody had Davies jerseys like a year or two ago and Jonathan David is such a great striker and a great player and deserves some love on his own. So, it felt right to rep him.”
The festivities were muted somewhat by midfielder Ismael Kone’s brutal leg injury in the 51st minute – the result of Assim Madibo’s tackle from behind. Madibo was issued a red card for the challenge, reducing Qatar to nine men after defender Homam Ahmed was sent off in the first half.
“He (Kone) means everything to this team,” David noted. “If you [ask] the same question to any guy on the team, they will tell you the same. I don’t even know how to describe him. He’s someone that we love a lot.”