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Egypt 1 – Zambia 1: Shock management!!

March 29th, 2009 | By: Tamim | 36 Comments »

Honestly we didn’t deserve anything more than this shocking draw against Zambia in front of a packed Cairo stadium; we didn’t present what could earn us the three points but on the other hand the Zambian team deserves all respect as they took the game seriously and played by their abilities with very high spirit.

However, we shouldn’t collapse because basically we are back to square one as all teams now have one point so we can forget about this game and think of the remaining games as cup finals that we have no other option but to win.

Before the match began, I sensed arrogance among the players as they entered the dressing room especially Zaki, Zidan and Shawky and I was very concerned because that was what happened last night with morocco and hoped the players would prove me wrong.

The game started and I was right about my feeling; from the first ball, the players lacked discipline and organization in the field; not to mention the horrible tactical errors in the formation.

Barakat played on the left wing and couldn’t even produce correct balls and of course not a single cross; even more, he left a huge gap in defense for katongo to move freely with other 3 Zambian players in their counter attacks who sometimes outnumbered our defense.

As Ahmed Samir Farag watched from the bench; the position of Barakat not only left a gab in the defense but also confused our attack as he enters the center once he get the ball to conflict with Zidan’s role as a playmaker; the end result was 2 isolated strikers.

During the game, many players were out of form or played spontaneously without a certain tactic; shawky was too arrogant to play in the game and didn’t show seriousness and made some careless passes while Ahmed Hassan was, as usual, selfish with the ball and spoiled the fast pace of our attacks; in attack Meteb was totally absent while zaki was careless despite the beautiful goal he scored, I felt he didn’t want to play.

On the other hand, the defense was awful and Zambia could have scored twice in the first half only despite the good effort from Wael Gomaa but the gap was obvious especially in zambia’s counter attack as Ahmed Fathi failed to cover for Barakat while Hani Said was lazy.

In the second half, there was no play at all; it was a totally stupid and dull half.

The substitutions came very late and were ineffective although abu treika could have scored twice but he wasted the ball carelessly!! Even more we had to end the game with ahmed Hassan being seriously injured and was useless in the field.

The defense continued to repeat their mistakes and Shawky continued to play arrogantly; late at the half, Barakat moved to the right side but he also failed to produce something!!!

Anyway, the game is over and we have to look forward; we shouldn’t think of home and away matches, we should win them all and I mean all because we have already wasted the 2 points we could have afforded to lose.

We know that our biggest rival in this group is the Zambian team not Algeria and our match with them there will be crucial; they showed that they aren’t a weak team but they are a well organized group of players with strong mentality and great tactical abilities.

Although he is responsible for many mistakes in the game, we shouldn’t bash Shehata a lot because he is the one who will continue; on the contrary we should show more support for the team; we should also remember that we have better chances than other teams, ask Nigeria who tied home with Mozambique or morocco who lost at home against Gabon in a group that comprises Togo and Cameroon.

The league will be over in may, so we need to gather our players in a long camp before the game against Algeria as short term camps proved its failure; if professionals won’t be available then let it be for local players only.

There is nothing else to add except thanking the huge fans that attended the game and didn’t stop their support for the team and to give credit for the Zambian team.

Hope we recover soon from the headshot we got from the copper bullets!!

Here are the goals

Tags: egypt, Team News, Zaki, zambia

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 36 comments.

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By shidada | March 30th, 2009 at 4:34 am

Last world cup, Togo and Angola. made it through. I see a lot of surprises this year: Zambia, Togo. Egpty will not win in Algeria, maybe in Rwanda. Forget about wining in Zambia. Zambia has a good coach and they prepared well for this game. Zambia for 2010, no doubt.

By mwape | March 30th, 2009 at 7:37 am

Zambia will win no matter what cause we know zambia will make to the world cup in 2010.GO ZAMBIA GO CHIPOLOPOLO

Posted from United States

By Mbwee | March 30th, 2009 at 9:44 am

Zambia earned this draw. Egypt is a fine side with excellent skills always. But on this day we were better than them. Go Chipolopolo!!

Posted from United Republic Of Tanzania

By omar | March 30th, 2009 at 12:52 pm

first good shit to zambia
second we slipped up and zambia were the bttr side…we give u ur props so stop talkin shit..its not like u won…besides zambia played alot of games together b4 dis game while egypt had played non
third for some unkown reason egyption players looked tired from the start..xcept mido
foutrh and most important…HAS EVERYONE FORGOTTEN WHO IS THE TWO TIME REIGNING CHAMP…ONE SLIP UP DOEST ME WE R OUT ESP IN SUCH A WEAK GROUP WITH ZAMBIA RAWANDA AND ALGERIA…SHEHATA FUCKED UP SO.. I BLAME HIM METEB SHUD NOT HAVE PLAYED..IF U LOOK BACK ON MY PREVIOUS POST WHERE I SAY THE LINEUP IT WAS THE ONE THT SHEHATA USED LATER WHEN MIDO BO TREIKA AND RABOU WENT IN…
EGYPT 2010 NO DOUBT IN MY MIND WHT SO EVER AT ALL…EGYPT,NIGERIA,GHANA,CAMEROON2010…SO SHUT UP ZAMBIANS U ONLY TIED…THTS PATHETIC UR SOOO PROUD

By Paul | March 30th, 2009 at 2:23 pm

Guys, let’s just talk about the beautiful game here. No need to use the “f” word. Also, I don’t know what this forum has to do with somebody’s mother.

Posted from United States

By maruti | March 30th, 2009 at 3:08 pm

To Omar: Weak group? Maybe… but you do know that in the last 7 games with Algeria you have won once, lost 4 times and achieved a draw twice? And you lost twice at home I believe!!! You have a terrible track record with Algeria. Period.

Posted from Poland

By Rachid | March 30th, 2009 at 3:50 pm

Omar, from your miserable English, I understood Nigeria and not Tunisia will qualify. That says a lot about your current understanding of what’s going on! The chances of Egypt beating Algeria in Algiers are nil! Believe me, they will eat you alive. If you could not beat Zambia at home, what makes you think you can win outside? For Egypt to continue to rely on those aging Ahly players and expect a miracle, is a big mistake. Next time, pick a fellow Arab country and not Nigeria, and have better arguments that are based on blind arrogance!!!

Posted from United States

By amo | March 30th, 2009 at 4:33 pm

egypt stuffed up big slipd up but every1 is on 1 point n i belive da only home n away game dat egypt should worry bout playing algeria da rest r da same we should win da rest of our home games win zambia n rawanda at there home n da algeria away we could win it if we played like we playing ghana 2008 if nt should go 4 da win but ill b happy wif a draw dnt understmate egypt look wat happen when we were told 4get bout a top 4 finish in ghana 2008

By Tamim | March 30th, 2009 at 6:14 pm

i deleted some comments because they were inappropriate; everyone , including zambia fans, are welcome here to express their opinions but without crossing the line, i mean without swearing or insulting Egypt or religion!!!

rather than that feel free to discuss the football!!

By MoMONEY | March 30th, 2009 at 6:51 pm

Typical Egyptian arrogance/ overconfidence I think… We have always had great players but no organization/ discipline. I hope Shehata is hard on them. Praying for 3 points next game…

Posted from United States

By Kuf | March 31st, 2009 at 2:55 am

Take it easy guys, no need to use ‘f’ words. In football, its not about the past, rather its about the current and future preparations that matter. Much as we respect EGYPT as a power house of African football at both national and club level we must also recognise that other countries are also improving. Your own CAPTAIN knew how difficult the game against Zambia was going to be at the pre-match press conference. The beauty about group C now is that we are all back at “one” and the road ahead is unpredictable. OMAR, teams like Nigeria and Cameroon are no-longer as good as they used to be and thats why they could’nt make it to the last world cup. EGYPT are favourite no doubt but this is all historical than futuristic. One could say that zambia was lucky but who doest need luck in life especially if a team despite being underatted accounted for itself well. Am sure the Zambia-Egypt return game will be decide who goes to the World Cup. I admire the fighting spirit of the Egyptian especially the performance at the last African Cup but the qualifiers bring with them different challenges. GO ZAMBIA GO, GO CHIPOLOPOLO. By the way, where is HOSSAM HASSAN, the legendary hitman?

Posted from Zambia

By Kasman | March 31st, 2009 at 5:23 am

Well I think it was a good game for Zambia i for one I see Zambia through to 2010 unless Egypt wins in Zambia which is a tall order!

By amo | March 31st, 2009 at 6:24 am

i belive da last game in cario will be the telling point i da respect da rest of the teams in a group n now i have no choice if egypt draws in egypt n algeria draws wif rawanda every1 teams must b respected but i belive it will be between egypt and algeria
one more thing i belive egypt need some changes keep the team freash n players playing for spots in da squad nt givien like shikabala i belive we need him if shawky cn get a start shikabala needs to be included im an ahly fan but he needs to play also play players in there natural side n postion dnt play players coz there beta then so n so but nt out of postion

By SHOOTER | March 31st, 2009 at 10:49 am

History is tellin itself that Egypt has never beaten zambia in qualifications, itz only in the cup of nations were egypt has given us problems. and starting from nigeria, ghana and cameron non of them has beaten zambia in their back yard, so watch out EGYPT coz zambia at home is something different.

Posted from Germany

By Tamim | March 31st, 2009 at 11:09 am

and we will also be different in the rest of the mtches, be extra careful from a wounded warrior!!

By Sawan | March 31st, 2009 at 3:14 pm

I don’t know why some Egyptian are loosing hope . I mean Egypt has still five mtches to trash the oppenents. And i mean come on we have two matches in a row Algeria and Rwanda and then we have the CONFEDERATION Cup. So what a football feast indeed. And remember that Algeria has allows been the country that lets us through to the World Cup. Although Ivory Coast won 5-0 it ended tragically when 19 people died becausea wall fell causing havoc. And come one at least we didnt loose like Cameroon. Who could have ever imagined that Marocco and Cameroon are the ones at the bottom of their groups with 0 points. Im so confident that we will in in Zambia ISA. Because history allows repeats itself. While zambia played 100% we only played 50%

Posted from United States

By MoMONEY | March 31st, 2009 at 4:25 pm

http://goal.com/en/news/89/africa/2009/03/31/1185155/mido-blasts-amr-zaki-over-egypt-comments

And so it begins… Shehata needs to come down with an iron fist. These players seem arrogant as usual and for us to do anything they need to be humbled…

Posted from United States

By Sawan | March 31st, 2009 at 6:22 pm

I honestly never liked Mido.Whenever hes on the national he causes trouble or is “injured”. He seriously needs to prove himself. And Zaki has never been known to be trouble maker and saved us against Zambia. Does Mido really have an impact on the national team?

Posted from United States

By Tamim | April 1st, 2009 at 4:16 pm

i think this is a fake story because Mido was smiling before the game and he didn’t seem to have a problem; before the substitution, he was talking with shehata normally; on the other hand, zaki seemed very nervous and ill tempered!!

i personally would believe that zaki could have made up the story especially when we know that mido is getting more play time in wigan while zaki is sitting on the bench.

bu this isn’t the point, we now need a united team , the last thing we want is these silly problems!!

By omar | April 1st, 2009 at 4:16 pm

i dont no who is to blame but i hope they can get this stupid argument solved
now just becuz egypt played bad once dont mean we will again…to all the peps who say tht it is impossible to win in zambia and algeria “rachid” im laughin at u right now cuz we will win (isa)…cuz r talent lvl is 1oox higher than theres ..shehta just needs to get them fit,motivated, and for god sake put players in their postion and to dump meteb

By omar | April 1st, 2009 at 4:17 pm

actually i think mido is innocent this time..andzaki’s spokesman is to blame

By amo | April 1st, 2009 at 8:46 pm

i think we have da team top be a top 8 team in south africa but da problem is we play heaps beta when we r playing beta teams then us when we vs teams dat we should win easily our plays think i cn do this by my self and dnt play like a team b4 i was looking forward to playing brazil and italy but now i dnt wnt to play them i wanna play teams like zamiba n rawanda in friendlys so our plays cn learn how to play at there best all the time

By SHOOTER | April 2nd, 2009 at 4:04 am

Don’t compare zambia and Rwanda, coz zambia is a much better team and remember the chipolopolo’s are regular africa cup of nations qualifiers, and they hav been topping the past
two qualifiers, were we had the likes of Togo and south africa, so EGYPT must win each and every game left, coz any sleep up it might just go zambia’s way, which i myself believ will happen, coz the MIDO’s and ZAKI’s saga will not do EGYPT and WIGAN any GOOD.

By omar | April 2nd, 2009 at 10:37 am

just keep talkin zambians cuz ima laugh my ass up when we give u guys a good ol’ ass whupin in zambia,consequently in ur logic wud send us to souuth africa, and non of ur asses show up on OUR blog again!

By SHOOTER | April 4th, 2009 at 2:19 am

@Omar. its bcoz you’re scared of the chipolopolo’s. and you can also visit our blog at zambianfootball.net

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