Egypt to use World Cup disappointment as motivation
Egypt are set to put their disappointment at failing to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup behind them and use the failure as motivation to reach the African Cup of Nations in 2012.
The team were just beat to a place at the South Africa showpiece by Algeria, whom they lost to in a play-off.
Now, the Egypt national team’s assistant coach Shawki Gharieb has pinpointed their first match as the moment where they lost the chance to make it to the World Cup when they drew at home with Zambia instead of picking up the victory.
Gharieb told reporters that: “We will never forget when we drew with Zambia — we lost the race then. We have learned that the first match in our campaign is the most important — if you win the first match, you gain confidence and it makes you comfortable in the rest of qualification.”
Qualifying campaign
Egypt, ranked as the ninth best team in the world by FIFA, are set to face Sierra Leone on Sunday in their opening qualifying match for the 2012 tournament, which will take place in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. South Africa and Niger make up the rest of Group G. Although Gharieb said the Egypt set-up were not too familiar with Sierra Leone and their players, they would not be making another similar mistake and would be taking the match seriously.
He said that: “Our target is to win all our games without having to look for the results of the other teams and how they perform.”
Meanwhile, national team manager Hassan Shehata has decided to leave out Zamalek’s former Wigan Athletic and Hull City striker Amr Zaki out of the squad for the Cup of Nations qualifiers. Gharieb revealed that: “Zaki is not fit to join the national team at the moment. However, we hope he could return to his peak soon."
Play-off for place in South Africa
Egypt will hope to avoid a repeat of the situation they faced in the race to qualify for the World Cup in South Africa. With Algeria and Egypt tied at the top of Group C on points, all goals scored in the group and points and goal difference against each other, they were pitted against each other in a play-off match which took place in Omdurman, Sudan.
The match proved to be an encounter which fed off a long-standing bitter rivalry between the two countries when it comes to football matters. Egypt had not qualified for the World Cup for 20 years, while Algeria had not played at football’s showpiece tournament since 1986. Violence surrounded the match, with reports that Algerian fans had pelted the Egyptian team bus with stones as it took the players back from a training session.
The animosity continued as Algerian Football Association head Mohamed Raouraoua gave the cold shoulder to his Egypt equivalent Samir Zaher at a function held by Sudan president Omar al-Bashir at the Presidential Palace.
After the game, which Algeria won 1-0, several Egyptian news outlets reported that fans who attended the game had been attacked while the country’s ambassador to the United Kingdom claimed that supporters had to flee to the Omdurman airport, fearing for their safety.
Revenge at Cup of Nations
Following that acrimonious encounter, Egypt took to the 2010 African Cup of Nations in Angola downbeat, but were able to gain a huge measure of revenge when they defeated Algeria 4-0 in the semi-final before going on to win their third title in a row.
The result meant that Egypt are now the most successful African nation at confederation level, having won seven titles and have been unbeaten at the tournament for 19 games. Now, they will be looking to kick on from their World Cup disappointment and aim to win an unprecedented fourth African title in a row.
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