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Confederations cup: Tough draw, what else did you expect?

November 22nd, 2008 | By: Tamim | 19 Comments »

Today in Johannesburg the draw for confederations cup 2009 held in South Africa took place with the help of beauty misses from each of the participating countries.

As expected we got Brazil, Italy and USA; honestly it couldn’t have been harder since we have world champions and South America champions and a rising united states.

I believe that we the big names shouldn’t terrify us because with little concentration and a lot of effort we can be the surprise of the tournament; if we play our style like we did in Ghana and injuries stay away from our key players we can cause troubles.

It is important though to consider this tournament as a rehearsal for the real world cup if we qualify -inshallah- and a chance to get used to playing against big names, get used to the pitches, atmosphere, cities, fans where we will hopefully play in 2010.

Here is our schedule:

15/06 Brazil – Egypt
18/06 Egypt – Italy
21/06 Egypt – USA

Hassan Shehata’s reaction:

“We know that we have to play strong teams like Brazil and Italy, but we are confident, because we are playing with a very strong team ourselves. We’re representing the African continent and we are the champions of Africa. Each game has its own story.”

“For us, this tournament is a great preparation for the FIFA World Cup qualifiers. We are always looking to win every match and we proved that in the African Cup of Nations. All three teams are strong teams, so if you fear the first opponents [Brazil), you fear all of the opponents.”

Our chances: 50/50

Our history in confederations is confined to one appearance in Mexico 1999 where we held Mexico to a 2-2 draw and another 2-2 with Bolivia before losing 1-5 to Saudi Arabia!!….and crashing out of the tournament.

So obviously we need to change this picture.

Here is a tiny preview of the team we are going to face:

Brazil

I don’t need to introduce Brazil it enough to say football = brazil; however, they are very likely going to rest their big guns like Kaka and Ronaldinho and field their reserves team.

But we shouldn’t be relaxed with this fact because they beat Argentina’s full squad 3-0 in the final of copa America with these reserves.

We lost all four matches we played against Brazil under the name of United Arab Republic.

Italy

They are the world champions (and my second favorite national team) who are famous for their tactical abilities; they will be looking to compensate for euro 2008 failure with their new coach Marcello Lippi who replaced Roberto Donadoni.

They are also going to field a mix of experienced players and young players but don’t let the word young fool you because names like Rossi, Giovinco and Aquafresca aren’t easy at all.

We met with Italy 6 times and won only one 3-0 in Florence in 1951

USA

A team that shouldn’t be underestimated; although football isn’t the number 1 sports there but they have a good team with some good players like Landon Donovan who plays in Bayern Munich.

I saw them beat Mexico in golden cup final and they indeed have great teamwork and physical power with the minimum skills; so let’s see if Obama really can cause change and make the USA win the tournament!!!

We met once in 1988 and won 3-1.

Now let’s remember why we are participating

Finally, best wishes for our fellow brothers in Iraq (grouped with Spain, New Zealand and South Africa), wish them all the best.

Tags: amr zaki, brazil, confederations cup, egypt, iraq, italy, mido, mohamed zidan, south africa 2009, Team News, USA

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Comments

By Bra | November 22nd, 2008 at 2:51 pm

I wouldn’t call your chances 50/50, but I will say Egypt definitely has a chance of moving on from this group. Italy and Brazil are both great teams that haven’t been great lately (if the Euro and WCQ are any indication). This isn’t to say they’re gonna be easy to beat, but it is possible. And the USA is probably going to again embarrass CONCACAF by showing how they can absolutely dominate the region and then crumble like a deck of cards against global opposition (I hope not!).

Though I think it ends up being fair for Egypt: this is the counterbalance to Egypt’s straightforward WCQ group!

Posted from United States

By Tamim | November 22nd, 2008 at 3:09 pm

bra: with brazil and italy not fielding their top players , i think we stand a good chance, it all depend on our mentality and concentration on the game’s day.and if we go through the group stage we may do sth.

By Bra | November 22nd, 2008 at 3:11 pm

(sth?) And I think whoever manages to get first in Group B will make the final. Assuming Spain (probably the best team out of the is first in Group A, the Group B winners will be facing off with Iraq, New Zealand, or South Africa..

Posted from United States

By Tamim | November 22nd, 2008 at 3:15 pm

why not win the whole thing if we go to the semi-final?!! we played with spain two years ago and we weren’t that bad. but again it depend on our mental and physical form on the matchday and consistency through out the tournament.

By MiDoS | November 22nd, 2008 at 5:20 pm

I have this feeling egypt is going to excel in this tournment

By Mo | November 22nd, 2008 at 7:51 pm

This is the perfect draw for us! Brazil and Italy are two huge names with very different styles so we will be ready for anyone in the worldcup… The USA team will give us trouble because we think they suck but they play extremely hard so we will learn not to underestimate anyone… Couldnt be happier with the draw-I just want to be competitive in each game, and be ready for the World Cup…

Posted from United States

By omar | November 23rd, 2008 at 1:57 am

we gnna whup some american ass…2-0 …beat itay 1-0 and tie brazil 1-1…this is obvioulsy very optimistic…

By Hany Olama | November 23rd, 2008 at 10:02 am

Honestly, it all goes down to the players our opposition will put against us. If the likes of Kaka, Robinho and Ronaldinho for Brazil, then we don’t really stand a chance against them. As for Italy, well if you look at their names at the current time, they aren’t as scary as two years ago (plus no Totti or Nesta or Cannavaro?) but still they’re Italy!! As for USA, I’ve watched them much since their amazing run in 2002 but I think we have an edge over them when it comes to team-work and players… So all in all our match with Italy is gonna decide whether we progress from this group or not.
My predictions:
Brazil 3-1 Egypt
Egypt 0-1 Italy
Egypt 2-1 USA
My Optimistic predictions:
Brazil 2-1 Egypt
Egypt 1-1 Italy
Egypt 3-1 USA

By Tamim | November 23rd, 2008 at 10:48 am

thanx all for your comments, very valuable opinions.

By Rachid | November 23rd, 2008 at 7:39 pm

Guys, keep it real! I would forget about beating Brazil or Italy, but try not to embarass myself by losing by a vestival of goals. Your realistic goal should be to beat the USA. If that does not happen, not a very unlikely prospect, then you will exit with zero points. I say this even though I’ll be very proud if Egypt does something memorable! Sorry to busrt your bubble, but having realsitic expectations is important!

By Hany Olama | November 24th, 2008 at 11:56 am

Rachid, If you’re not Egyptian then please don’t post here again cause you have no idea what we are capable of. Having Hope is also important. Hope is what keeps us going, would you have said that we had a chance after we barely beat Angola 2-1 that we would defeat Ivory Coast 4-1 (who thrashed Guniea 5-0)? I know you would’ve said the same “Try not to Embaress yourself!” So, if you think that our goal is to forget beating Brazil and Italy and “not to embaress ourselves” then mind your own business and leave Egypt alone.

By Tamim | November 24th, 2008 at 12:01 pm

easy guys, nobody said that we are going to beat these teams for sure rachid, we just hope we can achieve good results and why not beat them especially that they wll come with their second teams!!

By Rami | November 24th, 2008 at 12:57 pm

I think you guys can do something if things go your way. It’s going to be fun to watch regardless. But Hany, this is a blog which is open to everyone, Rachid can say whatever he wants and so can you. Agreeing one hundred percent on footy is practically impossible anyways. Best of luck to Egypt!

Posted from United States

By Mo | November 24th, 2008 at 1:12 pm

I actually kind of agree with Rachid… The confederations cup is not our goal- Our goal is to advance in the WC and pull some upsets then… We need to come to play and play to win but it needs to be used as a learning experience so if we get killed it still may be a good thing…

Posted from United States

By Hany Olama | November 24th, 2008 at 3:15 pm

He can say whatever he wants, No-one’s holding him back, but I won’t stand and watch when someone tries to belittle my country. We are the African Champions, we deserve some respect. He’s saying we should “try not to embaress ourselves”, if we were Djibouti or Swaziland I’d agree but not us.

By Rachid | November 24th, 2008 at 6:11 pm

Guys, I assure you I meant no disrespect; Rami knows that quite well and I’m glad Mo agrees. In 2006, we came close to beating Argentina (we lost 2-1, but we did miss a penalty kick), we also did very well against Germany despite the heavy loss in the last 15 minutes, and won Australia 2 to nothing. I hope you do better. As Mo pointed out, the WC is more visible and your accomplihments there will be noticed by a much larger audience. I wish you the very best!!! Thanks to Egyptian and Tunisian clubs, our weekends are more entertaining and we almost always have something to look forward to. No other country in Africa can claim that and we must be very proud.

Posted from United States

By Tamim | November 25th, 2008 at 7:53 am

thanx rami and rashid for your wishes, wish you the best too!!

By omar | November 27th, 2008 at 11:16 am

i agree with hany and rachid..i no werid huh…but hany is rightin the regard tht we desreve more respect than is given to us…acyaully alo t more cuz we r given basically none while cameroon basks in suoer high fifa ranks altougth we rapped them 4-2…cudda easliy been 4-0 but we let up understanbly…and i agree with rachid tht we also have to be realistic…which means we shud be aimin for confederations cup…ahaha i had u guys all worked up..bet u thought i was gnna be like ill be glad if just beat usa and lose to italy and brazil by an “unhumliating” margin…FUCK THT…were being realsitic when we say tht we can win it all…of cousre it will be hard and of course there is a huge chance tht we dont even beat USA but no one said it was gnna be easy…just look at hany’s example he’s prbly right…i even doubted egypt at tht point…but we can realistcally win the cup

By Tamim | November 28th, 2008 at 2:02 am

why not omar!!…..lol

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