Egypt 3 – Rwanda 0: Minimum,…..enough?

I can’t say that we achieved our targets from this game or that the score is a good one but the important thing is that we won 3 points, restored the second place in the group ahead of Zambia and increased our goal difference although not sufficiently.

The game was really stressful and tense and you would have felt that if you were in the stands among the fans; the players entered the game under huge pressure that turned into unjustifiable fear.

The more we got into the first half without scoring, the more the players lost concentration and the more they were rushed to score so they ended up with no accuracy in passes, crosses and shots and failed to take advantage of the Rwandan players’ fear and hesitance especially at the beginning of the game.

The final result doesn’t reflect the performance which wasn’t our fanciest; the players lacked chemistry and there was no linkage between midfield and attack so long balls prevailed and even those were useless since there were no strikers to receive them.

Shehata started with Zidan and Abu Treika who are originally attacking midfielders not strikers, they can score but only while they are supporting strikers not when they are the sole scoring option; however, Shehata corrected this mistake by substituting Shawky with Ahmed Raouf, the only striker he has.

In the second half, we improved a little but like the first half, we wasted dozens of very easy chances and Zidan seemed to be having an off day; however, after Ahmed Eid’s participation, our attacking efficiency increased and we were able to create more dangerous chances and eventually scored 3 goals.

Player ratings:

El Hadary: wasn’t tested a lot but dealt well with the balls that reached him, liked his save of the Rwandan player’s shot after the referee whistled offside.

Wael Gomaa: one of the best players in the game did very well and used his experience at many balls to eliminate danger but he needs to work on his acceleration, he starts slow and then speed up and by this time fast Rwandan players would be miles away.

Mahmoud Fathallah: his first match since ages, was shaky and hesitant at many balls but performed well in general as he gained confidence as the match went on, needs to work on his headers, no accuracy at all.

Hani Said: was good in transferring the ball from defense to attack but lacked speed and he could have used some balls better.

Shawky: seemed out of form, a lot of miss-passes, aggressive tackles and physical play.

Hosni Abd Raboh: did very well in the first half and even better in the second; was a very good connection between players and played defense when we needed and attack when we needed it and even sent crosses, needs to smile more!!!

Mohammed Hommos: lacked self-confidence at the beginning and improved throughout the game, not bad.

Abu Treika: not at his best but he tried and eventually scored two very crucial goals.

Zidan: off-day!!

Ahmed Raouf: has talent and will but needs experience, could have scored twice but supported his team mates very well and done what he was asked to.

Ahmed Eid: very useful in attacks, especially counter attacks; could have scored but wasted also, not a bad match for him.

Abdel Aziz Tawfiq: what the hell were you thinking of…….I never saw Shehata laugh this way before.

By the way, he was laughing out of disappointment and surprise not mocking the player.

I don’t know why the players were so angry and nervous even after they scored, surely they have dealt with more difficult situations, need to keep their cool; this demonstrates the importance of a psychiatrist as our problem proved to be psychological rather than a technical one.

We will have to play our next matches without El Hadary because of suspension by FIFA on the background of the case between him, Ahly and Sion fc, great loss, I don’t get Ahly’s persistence on this issue given the critical situation the national team is dealing with, there must be priorities!!!

One last thing, there are people who say that we won because of the referee, we can argue forever about this but you need to know that referees commit mistakes one time for you, the other against you and we have always suffered from referees, especially African ones and don’t forget also that the referee ignored a correct penalty kick for Fathallah in the first half not to mention the poor performance of the assistance referee who whistled for offside every time the ball reached Zidan!!!

So how do our chances of playing in South Africa next year look like now?

This how the group looks like after round 3

Group C
Team MP W D L GF GA Pts

Algeria
3 2 1 0 5 1 7

Egypt
3 1 1 1 5 4 4

Zambia
3 1 1 1 2 3 4

Rwanda
3 0 1 2 0 4 1

Honestly this score is the minimum expected, we needed to score six goals and we could have done that easily if it weren’t for bad finishing and bad luck; one thing I didn’t understand is why were the players satisfied after the second goal, didn’t anyone tell them the math!!!

So now we will visit Rwanda and Zambia before playing home against Algerian; basically we need to win both matches with the highest score possible and least goals conceded to compensate for the goal difference between us and Algeria, 3 goals, and if we did that we still need to beat Algeria with a two goals difference because they will look at direct results between both teams and we already lost there by two goals.

Things may get easier if Algeria slipped in one of its matches; but this is very difficult since they will be playing at home and they won’t such a chance to qualify to the world cup.

I say our chances are 40%

Here are the highlights

Good luck in what to come and I hope we improve and Mido and Zaki restore form because they are needed so much.