Before the match:
World Cup qualifying group
C: A thrilling three way race between North African powers Morocco and
Egypt, and West African surprise team Senegal with all the focus on the
big Morocco - Egypt match this weekend.
Senegal, who have been a
bit unlucky in some matches, are idle this weekend and should pray for
a success of Morocco over Egypt. This is the only result which leaves Senegal
the chance to qualify by their own powers.
Egypt still could catch
up with the two even then and improve their goal difference against Namibia
and at Algeria.
But if they lose Saturday
in the big match at Rabat they will depend on Senegal to beat Morocco.
A draw in the Morocco-Egypt
encounter or even more an Egyptian success would bring the Egyptians into
the drivers seat. All under the presuppostion the Egyptions do grab the
points from their last two matches against the group outsiders.
While Egypt have added a
lot of momentum to their well organised game by introducing teenage striker
Ahmed Hossam they still seem to have (psycological?) problems in matches
which take a different run of events than hoped, for example like in the
away match at Namibia.
For Morocco the receipe
is rather easy: beat Egypt and not lose at Senegal. Anything else would
leave them paralysed watching in front of their TV's on the last weekend
of the qualifiers when they then will need Senegal and/or Egypt to fail
in their away matches at Namibia and Algeria.
Mustapha Hadji is back for
Morocco as predicted after the poor Nations Cup qualifyer against Gabon.
A more detailed preview
of the Egyptian view you can read at arab
soccer online (opens in a new window)
1st half:
-the match has started,
Morocco in all green, Egypt in red shirts, white shorts, white stockings
-('2) Morocco starts attacking
-('3) Egypt show they do
not want to hide, the forwards attack the Moroccans deep in their own half,
agressively interrupting the build-up
-('5) first contact of a
goalkeeper with the ball: Nader, the Egyptian #1 plucks down a Ramzi cross
-('9) Egypt: Sabry slaloms
into the penalty area and falls, he claims it has been after contact with
a defender and wants a penalty but the referee shows him the yellow card
for playacting
-basically the Egyptians
play drawn back into their half, waiting for counter opportunities
-('12) Egypt apply some
pressure and Hosny shoots from a good position across the bar
-('13) Benzikri leaves his
goal and intercepts a long ball, after the insuing throw in an Egyptian
shot wide (no danger)
-('14) another yellow card
for an Egyptian player
-('20) first real spectacular
scene after a corner for Morocco: Nader saves a flying ball over the bar
-yet the clear chances
have been denied by the defences but the potential of the two teams is
present and menacing, the Egyptian forwards and the Moroccan midfield
-('27) Egypt have taken
over the match at the moment, Sabry has a big opportunity after attack
along the left wing, but he fires far across the bar
-('32) it begins to look
critical for Morocco, the crowd is feeling the Egyptian domainance, then
suddenly...
-('32) ...the individual
brilliance of Mustapha Hadji: set up by a Camacho header Hadji fires (unmarked
and unchallenged) from 20 meters a rocket into the net - 1:0
-('36) brilliant ball on
Camacho but offside (and Nader out in time)
-('38) Egypt with a threatening
attack, Morocco more confident now
-('40) Egypt: a harmless
shot is no problem for Benzikri, but Egypt show strong determination and
attack vehemently
-('41) yellow for Morocco
#11 Kachloul, after he stopped an Egyptian attack by a foul
-('42) the insuing free
kick cross by Sabry becomes dangerous and the Moroccan keeper Benzikri
has to concede a corner
-('43) an Egyptian corner
becomes dangerous, there seems to be a lot of holding, wrangling,
and shoving in both penalty areas on those occasions
-('injury time) Morocco:
Ramzi conquers a ball in midfield but his ball for Camacho (Hadda) is too
long
halftime 1:0
Egypt are the dominant team
but they did not have a player yet who exploits opponents mistakes and
fires the ball into the goal like Hadji did
2nd half:
-('46) the match has restarted
and it takes no 10 seconds before Benzikri has to intercept the first Egyptian
attack
-('48) Ahmed Hossam becomes
dangerous on the right wing but his cross os a bit long so that the angle
for the Hosny header is too tight
-('50) another good Egyptian
attack, but eventually offside
-('51) good counter situation
for Morocco but Ramzi's cross does not get through
-('53) Egypt: Tarek El Saeed
wide
-Egypt dominant, Morocco
defending and luring for counter opportunities, it is a fast and intense
game, but yet fair it seems
-('59) no clearcut chances
but a thrilling match anyway
-('61) Emara sees yellow
after stopping Adel Ramzi by holding on a promising counter attack
-('62) a stupid handball
by Ahmed Hossam?, the referee speaks some serious words
-('64) most dangerous scene
for Egypt: Hosny takes a cross directly and hits the outside of the net
-('67) it is a huge match,
Egypt try everythiing, Morocco replace Camacho by Bassir
-Egypt become a bit hectic
in their desire to keep the tempo as high as possible
-('73) Morocco: two corners
in a row for Morocco, a rare experience
-('74) Morocco: Bassir
sets free Ramti who is through on the right hand side but again delivers
not a very good cross, it is easily intercepted by Nader with free to score
behind him
-(76) Morocco: Hadji becomes
substituted (#15 is in)
-('78) Benzikri looks odd
as catching a corner, it reminds of the Morocco -Norway match at the World
Cup 98
-('80) Egypt come through
on the right hand side, dangerous cross, but a bit too far ion the back
of the strikers
-the players look exhausted,
it is full tempo or even more all the time
-('85) both teams with a
last substitution
-('86) yellow for Benzikri,
the Moroccan keeper for time wasting
-('87) Morocco begin to
take time-outs: now it is an injured player
-('90) there is some kind
of argument between Morocco #4 and Ahmed Hossam, off the ball. The Moroccan
player lies on the ground holding his leg and Hossam sees yellow
-('injury time) Ahmed Hossam
breaks through on the left but the cross gets defended, a moment later
he is in offside at another attempt
-the match is over
final score 1:0
I fear I repeat myself:
it is a pity that this group cannot produce 3 teams for the World Cup.
All three (those two here and Senegal) play quite sophisticated but have
some problims in converting their game into goals, especially against stronger
opponents. The indivudual quality of Hadji decided this match when Egyopt
failed to convert similar opportunities.
The new scenario: next match
is Senegal against Morocco, if Senegal wins, all three are still in the
race, with Senegal and Egypt heading for a decision on goal difference
over Morocco. If Morocco can grab a point or three they will be qualified,
it will be their last match while Senegal and Egypt still have two.
|
M |
G |
P |
| Morocco |
7 |
8-2 |
15 |
| Senegal |
6 |
8-2 |
9 |
| Egypt |
6 |
7-4 |
9 |
| Algeria |
7 |
10-13 |
7 |
| Namibia |
6 |
1-13 |
2 |
group winner qualifies for
World Cup 2002
|
Zusammenfassung
in Deutsch ]
