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Egypt-cote d’ivoire preview

February 6th, 2008 | By: Tamim | 21 Comments »

if you think it is mission impossible i completely disagree with you. it might be a difficult match but it is never impossible. with all the respect we are as much powerful as cote d’ivoire. of course i have my reasons. i will try to go deep into tomorrow’s match

why i think it isn’t that difficult?

1- if they have drogba, kone, kalou keita and others we also have zidan, amr zaki, hosni abd raboh, el hadary and others. on the individual level our players are as powerful as them and on the team level we might be even better

2- if they play in europe, our players played at one point of time there and those who don’t play in europe, have the potential to play at the biggest clubs there . hani said played in Italy’s serie a for 8 years, hosni played at Strasbourg, shawky is in middlesbrough, zidan in hamburg, hadary best keeper, amr zaki played in moscow.

3- cote d’ivoire didn’t play against a powerful team yet, Nigeria isn’t good Mali and Benin…no comment and guinea isn’t a scale.

4- don’t get deceived by their last win 5-0. they were 1-0 until 70 minutes and when guinea started to loosen its defenses they scored 4 goals, not because they are powerful.

5- we should have more confidence in our team , remember we are the champion and as much as we fear them they fear us too.

6- remember also that we have beaten them twice in 2006!!

7- if you look at history, when egypt reach semi finals, they win the tournament. check for yourself if you son’t believe me.

the match
now let’s get into the match, our strength is in our consistent squad and tremendous team work. while the strength of cote d’ivoire is in their speed and physical power and i personally think that there key isn’t drogba but it is abd el kader keita. the guy is skillful and very fast. so i think sayed moawad won’t be enough we will need a stopper to go under sayed to cover the left flank. concerning drogba, we will need wael gomaa to be in his top form to keep him in the shades, also i prefer that we start mahmoud fathallah better than shady who didn’t convince me last match. in the midfield , i think we need ahmed hassan and use his experience beside hosny and shawky and that will be more than enough. in attack we need zidan if he can play and in front of him amr zaki (essential) because of his power. and meteb or maybe mohamed fadl may have a chance.

probable scenarios
1-egypt start attacking and score an early goal that will make the match much more easier and we will eventually win.

2- egypt will defend tight like the last friendly and drive the match to a draw and win by penalty shootouts.

3- egypt may concede a goal or two and may lose, however if egypt lose i won’t be angry. we played well in this tournament and it is a great achievement to reach the semi finals.

latest news
- egypt had to stop their training session today because of heavy rain after 20 minutes.
- all players expressed their confidence and hoped that they reach the final
- amr zaki survived death after he almost drowned in a swimming pool after some one pushed him there. luckily, he is fine now

again, all we need is confidence, confidence, confidence and little luck

squad
………………….el hadary………………..
ahmed fathi….wael gomaa.. hani said…mahmoud fathallah….sayed moawad
……………………hosni abd raboh….mohamed shawky
…………………………zidan………………..
amr zaki……………………………………meteb

match card
event: egypt-cote d’ivoire, semi-final , ghana 2008
place: baba yara stadium, kumasi
time: 22:30 (CLT), 20:30 (ghana local time)

key matchups:
sayed moawad vs abd el kader keita: i hope moawad is up to the job
amr zaki vs defense: he is a fighter and he can do it
meteb vs scoring: he exerted a lot of efforts in the last matches and he deserves to score
zidan vs injury: i hope he will make it
players vs confidence: if only they have confidence they can beat any team
hosni vs midfield battle: he is the man and the star of the egyptian team until now. he will have a great battle to win tomorrow.

NB: special thanks to the Lebanese community in kumasi for their huge support for our team. also special thanks to rami and all who log on this site and support egypt. thank you all.

yalla ya masrawya…….shedo 7elko shwya

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Comments

By Al | February 6th, 2008 at 4:47 pm

I believe we can do it. We have all the parts to get the job done. Shehata really needs to think this thoroughly and put the best players in from the start. We need Zidan if he is fit to play, Abu Terika and Ahmad Hasan from start. Amr Zaki and Meteeb up front if the players feel comfortable and confident they’ll do it inshallah.

Posted from United States

By Shady | February 6th, 2008 at 6:09 pm

Personally, I think we will win it, though it will be difficult. Unlike all the other teams Cote d’Ivoire faced, Egypt has amazing defense with Gom3a and Hany Sa3eed and an amazing midfield w/ abotreka, shawky, ahmed hassan, hosni, and ahmed fathi. Our attackers have been a dissappointment so far; it seems meteb is back to his bad luck (hopefully he wont stay there for long). As for amr zaki, he’s got a good build to fight for the ball with the africans but so far its been luck for him; if he gets serious and stays in the attacking zone he might be able to show some of his good moves. As for zidan, I really hope he plays; he’s amazing with the ball but he must stay a team player if we plan to win this game.
Although Cote d’Ivoire is a very good team, they have a big dissadvantage and that’s there goal keeper. Barry is simply a joke; we played him well when he was subbed in for Tizie in the group match against Cote d’Ivoire in ACN 2006. As long as our attackers pass their amazing defense, we are sure to score!!
COME ON EGYPT SHOW THEM HOW ITS DONE!!!

Posted from Canada

By Leila | February 7th, 2008 at 6:34 am

Who pushed amr zaki in a swimming pool???
I hope they score a very early goal, because that would make it much easier for egypt, i think. but i hope, that it won’t come to a goal for ivory coast in the last 15 minutes . .. well. i’m very proud of egypt, and for sure i’ll be sad, if they lose, but they played very good until now, and i think they could make it through the final and win the cup, if the want. i hope zidan can play today, the team needs him.
we believe in you!

By Kareem | February 7th, 2008 at 8:35 am

Egypt are so underrated its unbelievable!!! people can sometimes be so uneducated and think that jst because drogba and eto for example play for european teams, it means that thir country is great aswell!! in fact, some people even think egypt is in asia which just shows how much they know! The players have been great so far, they have gone about their business well. the only thing they need is the confidence…the players are awesome and can easily play for any top team they jst need to believ in themselves just like what they did against cameroon. I think she7ata has done well to produce this new younger team, i see some real talent in there i just hope we can keep it together and concentrate. We must keep our defences tight but at the same time attempt to go forward as if we keep getting under pressure, eventually we will concede. They key to the game tonight will be to closing down the ivorians real quick and NOT allow them any time on the ball-egypt are good at closing down especially zaki, i just think they need to do that more often, in sha2 allah neksab elnaharda e rabena ma3ahom!!!

Posted from United Kingdom

By tamim | February 7th, 2008 at 9:13 am

to AL and shady i hope you are correct and we will win isa
to leila…ahmed hassan was joking with amr zaki but he didn’t know that he can’t swim
to kareem…i totaly agree with you and this is what i tried to explain

By Daily Dose 2.7.08 - World Cup Blog - African Cup of Nations 2008 | February 7th, 2008 at 10:11 am

[...] Pharaohs vs Elephants preview (Egypt Blog) [...]

Posted from United States

By Mostafa | February 7th, 2008 at 5:35 pm

what did i say? Man oh man.

Posted from United States

By nader | February 7th, 2008 at 6:20 pm

it is almost done

By Al | February 7th, 2008 at 6:36 pm

Alhamdu lellah

By jihedc | February 7th, 2008 at 6:40 pm

Congratulation to the Egyptian team, a score like that, people will be talking about for years. Such a spanking cannot be forgotten easily.
It shows that the Arab football is still very strong, and all the hype about the talented West African teams is just… too much hype.
Big names, but something is still missing, too many holes.
My prediction for Sunday 2-1 inchallah.
Go Egypt

Posted from United States

By Egyptian Ashraf - USA | February 7th, 2008 at 7:08 pm

Congratulations to my country and to all those who love Egypt. What an exciting game we played tonight. Insha’ Allah, we can win on Sunday…it will be tough because Cameroon will try to defend its honor, but When Allah is with us, we can’t lose.

Posted from United States

By Mostafa | February 7th, 2008 at 7:16 pm

Man lions and elephants and eagles heavy meal.

For all the Cameroonians out there Mark my word. Inshaallah This Cup is ours. I expect a 4-3 to us! perhaps yall might score first.

Posted from United States

By shawkat | February 7th, 2008 at 8:39 pm

Al hamdolilah. we did it. 4-1! i knew it. we beat cameroon. i think we can do it again!!

Posted from United States

By Mahmoud | February 8th, 2008 at 2:49 am

Tamim, I’m so proud of you guys….You did a great job during the whole event…The egyptian team will endorse its fifth title inchallah and accomplish something that noe of the african teams did before… You guys made me very proud of your team work and tenacity in the game. You deserve the title. I think cameroon are no match for you, you already prooved yourself to them by crashing them 4-2 in a earlier game….I heard all kind of rumors in this blog about west african football and discrimination about north african teams that made me sick to the stomach, but at the end it comes out to who’s the best! No doubt Egypt is the best at last…Long live the north african football…The moroccan team just made a brief impression in the CAN 2008 due to this stupid coach, we play brasilian style not english, thanks to the corn field we played at in Accra, we had to play long passes but didn’t work out, it’a shame that this coach tought he was wise but to get fired at the end. But at last I have my egyptian brothers that gave me hope that the cup is staying ARAB for the last six years no matter what others think cause only the best teams advance. To you my egyptian brother: Long live egypt and its warriors in the field…Sincerely, your moroccan friend…..Mahmoud

Posted from United States

By tamim | February 8th, 2008 at 3:13 am

thanks very much mahmoud for your very beautiful words. but if egypt wins it will make its 6th title not 5th. we will dedicate the title in sha2 allah to all arabs. i want to know how other moroccans feel toward egypt?

By jihedc | February 8th, 2008 at 4:05 am

Am not a Moroccan, but Tunisian. I watched the game at work. The game started as a curiosity from some and ended with almost a full house watching. I received mails from Algerian friends, all very happy after the win. It tells an important message, everyone was proud for this victory, showing once again the strength of Arab football. This CAN was very special, more than previous ones and I totally agree with Mahmoud about all that discrimination against Northern African football, and all the hype concerning West African teams, West-African big names etc…One more game to go, and this Cameroon team, although exposed during the first game and the game against Tunisia, is still a strong, experienced team, not to be taken lightly and not to be under-estimated. I stick with my previous prediction 2-1, Egypt should bring it home incha-allah.

Posted from United States

By Tawfik | February 8th, 2008 at 7:37 am

I feel great from the support Egyptians get from Moroccans, Tunisians, Algerians and all Arabs. I feel proud we are united in some way. We should help each other and stand together in all field.

By Aya | February 8th, 2008 at 12:01 pm

Ya 7alawtek ya Masr w enty betmarga7y Cote Devoir…
a7la Gamed W begad soooooo proud to be EGYPTIAAAAAAAAAAAAN…
BA7EBEK YA MASR W 3AYZA ARGA3LEK TANI BESOR3AAAAAAAAA…
ana ro7t el gam3a w labsa shirt 3alam masr w mashya atmarga7 feeky ya America…ya rab 3o2bal EL KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS…

Posted from United States

By ahmad | February 9th, 2008 at 6:06 am

while I have a lot of respect for Cameroon I belive the Egyptian players are great players and by the way the Egyptian league is the 17 th most prestegius league in the world which means the Egyptian competition alone is held in high Esteem and that products from it are very formidable I believe we can put away Cameroon Inshallah but only if we give them the respect they Deserve and defend well the way we did with Ivory coast

Posted from New Zealand

By Atef | February 9th, 2008 at 9:40 am

Thanks god Camiron next 4/0

Posted from United States

By Mustafa | February 9th, 2008 at 10:58 am

It was very fantastic game from Egypt team , I hope we win the Cup in sha2 Allah , of course it is very difficult game , but we will in sha2 Allah.
My prediction is 3-1 to Egypt in sha2 Allah , but players have to do their best and completely forget the last victories and focus on this final match.
Good Luck to Egypt team.

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