Egypt-Cameroon preview

here we are, hours away from the Ghana 2008 final. it is the African classic, Egypt-Cameroon, and yet more a revenge match for Cameroon. both teams weren’t expected to reach this phase; however, they impressed in their semi finals. the match will involve history , records to break and much more stuff.

historically, whenever egypt goes to the final they win. that was what happened in 86,98 and 2006. so let’s hope that rule won’t be broken and egypt will win once again.

for the first time since the start of the tournament, egypt will leave kumasi and move to accra. it will be the first time to play in accra stadium. while on the other hand cameroon played in accra in the semi final so they are more used to it.

in their last match, egypt stunned the world with 4 marvelous goals in the mighty cote d’ivoire. the surprise was very big and unexpected. a lot of people started to reconsider how they rank African powers again. and changed the perception that say that: (tell me how many players you have in Europe i tell you how powerful you are).on the other side, Cameroon succeeded in knocking out Ghana the organizer by a great counter attack and it looks like the lions restore their memories.

the best thing in the Egyptian team is their consistent squad to the extent that anyone can memorize the players who would start the match. this is a very important point of strength.

the only and my biggest fear isn’t from Cameroon or eto or even from our players ability. but it is from the excessive confidence our players may feel and that will lead the players not to play seriously enough. but what assures me is that hassan shehata gathered all the players and stopped the celebrations. all the players are focused again.

there will be a lot of records to break or to set both on the individual level and the team level. first, if egypt win it will take its 6th title to break its record with 5 titles. second, hassan shehata would set a record of being the only Egyptian coach to win 2 African tournaments and consecutively. third, amr zaki wiill hope that eto doesn’t score and he score 2 goals at least to earn the title of the top scorer. fourth, if egypt win, el hadary will be the only Egyptian keeper to hold 3 titles and ahmed hassan will equalize hossam hassan’s record. also, hosny abd raboh will be waiting for the annoncement of the best player in the tournament, he is a strong
candidate for it.

the match
the match is the final and it won’t be easy. we can’t count on the first round win 4-2 because cameroon isn’t the same cameroon that lost this match. cameroon will start with huge pressure and if egypt can keep a clean sheet in the first 15 minutes, i think they will stand a great chance of winning. again it will be el hadary the man to count on and we will wait for his extra ordinary performance again. in their last matches egypt impressed in defending and were very distinguished, so if they keep this pace we will have the confidence to start attacks. then comes the role of midfield, hosny and shawky or ahmed hassan will be the key for winning with their easy play and brilliant passes. in attack, it will be the turn of the two incredibles (zidan and abu treka) with amr and emad to score and bring the cup home. however, it will be a hard job, in the last match we saw how cameroon defenders were solid and focused. if cameroon adopt the same strategy it applied in ghana’s match it will be difficult to break their lines. they closed their defense and midfield tightly and played on organized counter attacks. they wait for the right moment and hit fast so we have to be careful.

-worth mentioning that 386 fan will fly tomorrow from cairo to accra to support the team. they will join the 180 Egyptians already there.

probable squad
……………….el hadary……………….
ahmed fathy…..wael gomaa….hani said…..shady mohamed……sayed moawad
………………….hosny……….shawky………..
………………..abu treka……………..
…….amr zaki………………emad meteb

match card
event: egypt-cameroon, final match , ghana 2008
time: 19:00 (CLT), 17:00 (ghana local time)
place: accra stadium, accra

key matchups:
wael gomaa vs eto: he stopped drogba,flavio and eto and he will be ready isa to stop him again.
sayed moawad vs geremi: again , sayed moawad will have to improve his defense to stop geremi. because last time geremi was very dangerous.
defense vs counter attacks: cameroon is very dangerous -as i said- in counter attacks, they have the speed , skill and power needed to score from them.
amr zaki vs song: will he be the top scorer….let’s hope he will isa
emad meteb vs scoring: in spite of his great performance in doing all his tasks he failed in his primary task which is to score.
players vs confidence: we will need the spirit we saw in cote d’ivoire match.

predictions: 1-0 or 2-1 for egypt isa

i just wanted to say that even if we don’t win the cup we should be all happy with this team and these players. we really didn’t have such a powerful team before.

again, thank you all for your support.

fadel 3ala el 7elw da2a!!………yalla ya masrawya…..shedo 7elko shwya