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Egypt
-
always talented but often mentally
fragile performances
-
title holders: miracolous out-of-the-blue
performance at the Nations Cup 1998
-
collapse at the 1999 FIFA Confederations
Cup:
a new coach has taken over
since and has been already critisized
-
a strong frame of first level
players
-
difficult to evaluate opponents
in first round
-
a second fairytale performance
seems quite unlikely
-
overview:
Egypt among the best of Africa
-
the
list of players (includes age and where do they play
analysis)
Though
they always have been a big name in African football, Egypt definitively
were a surprise as winners 1998. Especially because they put up a 100%
convincing performance, conceding only 1 goal in 6 matches. In the years
before they had been a sophisticated team to watch but psychologically
instable and quickly pushed off the road. To this they returned at the
Confederations Cup in Mexico when they started well against the eventual
winners Mexico and Bolivia with draws but suddenly collapsed in the third
match against Saudi-Arabia.
This lead to the resignation
of their 1998 success coach Al-Gohari. The new coach or T.D., the French
Gerard Gili, has already come under heavy criticism, not a good base to
start from. Anyway the Egyptian team frame is strong: three high value
Bundesliga professionals, Yasser Radwan, Mohamed Emara, and Hany Ramzy,
the talented Hazem Emam and star striker Hossam Hassan should be strong
enough to win some matches. In Ahmed Hosny a new talent striker, also playing
Bundesliga now, might surprise some opponents.
A question mark stays
behind the strength of their group with just recovering Senegal and rebuilding
Zambia and their homemade problems. That Egypt can repeat their 1998 performance
seems unlikely. It had been too fairytellish.
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