Egypt – USA preview: I want YOU!!

June 20th, 2009 | by: Tamim |

It is simple, 3 points from Uncle Sam sees us in the semi final; however, 3 points with a 2 goals margin and an Italy victory means that we top our group and avoid a tiring and difficult match against European champions Spain and a comfortable game against South Africa; in all cases we must win.

Although the United States lost its two matches they still have a very slight hope of qualifying by beating us with a large score and Brazil beating Italy, rather than that they will be playing for their pride and won’t make things easy for us.

Their coach, Bob Bradley, is under huge pressure and his job is threatened and he will need to give his fans and officials a reason to keep him in his post by beating Egypt or at least giving us hard time.

On the other hand, our players will be very tired mentally and physically after two hard fought matches against Brazil and Italy, also they will be missing Zidan, Shawky and maybe Ahmed Fathy which means the match will be a good chance to introduce new players so that they can get international experience.

With all these motives, it will be a good match to watch.

USA

I honestly know almost nothing about them, I only saw their second half against Italy and they seemed to be harmless depending on their physical power and speed and mainly long balls which shouldn’t constitute a problem for our defense that is used to deal with these situations in the local league.

However, they have the motive to make a surprise and leave their mark on the tournament and for that we have to take our precautions.

Their last match against Brazil

Probable formation: Howard – Spector, Onyewu, Demerit, Bornstein – Bradley, Feilhaber, Beasley – Dempsey, Altidore, Donovan

Egypt

Before the tournament started, USA was considered the only beatable team and now, as I said before, we must beat them in order to progress to the other round. We need to keep concentrated, humble and stay away from over confidence not to repeat the scenario of confederations cup 1999 when we were favourites to advance to the semi final against Saudi Arabia but we were humiliated 5-1!!

With all the effort made during the past 2 matches, Hassan Shehata will be giving his substitutes a chance to prove themselves worthy to continue the world cup qualifying campaign.

Also, most probably he will not play with three defensive midfielders and instead play with an attacking triangle of Eid and one of Ahmed Abdel Ghani or Ahmed Raouf and behind them Abu Treika

Probable formation:

…………………………………..el hadary………………………..
Mohammady…..Oka……hani said……….wael gomaa……….ahmed samir farag
……………………………abd Raboh………..homos
……………………………………abu trieka………………………
…………………..ahmed eid………………….ahmed raouf (ahmed abdel ghani)

Prediction: 2-0 (Abu Treika and Eid)

After Algeria’s victory against Zambia, they won 2-0, there are two schools of thought; the first says that we must redirect our attention toward Rwanda’s game and not exhaust our players during the confederations cup; the second says that we must completely concentrate in the confederations cup because maybe it will be this generation’s last appearance on the international stage……………who are you with?

Tags: abu trieka, altidore, bob bardley, confederations cup, donavan, egypt, el hadary, shehata, Team News, united states, USA, zidan

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Comments

By MoMONEY | June 20th, 2009 at 5:31 pm

Im quite worried- this is the type of game we usually have trouble with. Without Zidan’s hard work up front I can see it being close or us losing. IsA we will get it together and win it and get back on track in qualifying

By George | June 20th, 2009 at 5:48 pm

Are you sure Zidan won’t make it?? I know he was subbed out early last game, but he told reporters after the match he’d be fit for the US match. can someone explain if they changed their mind???

By Rachid | June 20th, 2009 at 6:54 pm

The U.S. will prove to be a formidable opponent! They have a different style of playing and they tend to be more competitive with teams of Egypt’s level. I don’t think they will settle for a third loss. Good luck!

By Mark | June 20th, 2009 at 7:17 pm

Hopefully Egypt finishes well in the Confederations Cup, because they aren’t going to the World Cup.

By sscouser | June 20th, 2009 at 8:32 pm

Watch your words. Don’t count chicks before they hatch. Nevertheless, Good Luck.

By Dareen | June 20th, 2009 at 10:12 pm

hey Tamim you should have posted that Egyptian translator dude again in the U.S.A commercial cause he seems to have been the only one making accurate predictions. I still have a strong feeling we will make it to the WC isa. Cause people worldwide actually want to see us play. We were able to entertain the whole world against Brazil and Italy so i say we should go to the confederations semi-finals or maybe even finals. Imagine another encounter with Brazil how awesome would that be.

Hey this is very odd but history always repeats it self. This reminds me of the past two African Cups where we reached the finals with the team that we played the opening match in our group with . SO who knows with God with us isa we may reach the finals

Posted from United States

By Alex | June 20th, 2009 at 11:33 pm

dont go on the us performance aainst brazil, there were out of form players on the pitch and it showed very obviously. The better wway to judge the US is the first half of the Italy game, b4 they went down to 10 men. The US didnt dominate Italym but for the most npart it was evenly matched in the first half.

Were expecting some non usual starters to start in the midfield such as Jose Torres and possibly the old wonderkid himself Freddy Adu (who is actually still a kid at 20). But neways, our captian and center back Bocaegra has been out the entire tourney so far so we will see if he can go. Our weekness defensively is the flanks. Our offensive weakness is a lack of creativety, but that can change if Torres/Adu start.

Donovan is our best player and the midfielder is a wildcard for WHERE he will play, but he will play 90 minutes guaranteed. The offense sometimes relys on him unfortuantely. We also have a world class goal keeper in Tim Howard who used to play for Man United before moving onto Everton.

And FINALLY, we have a coach who at the moment is under INTENSE pressure and he plays a very compact system. Expect either a 4-4-2 or more likely a 4-5-1 with the 5 in some sort of wacky arrangement.

Hope that helped yall learn about the US . I wish i could give a prediction but noone knows how the US is going to play after Brazil :\

Posted from United States

By Tamim | June 21st, 2009 at 12:35 am

mo:i am even more worried than you are…..ya rab

george: it is confirmed, but he will participate in the semi final if we qualify.

rachid: that’s what i said

sscouser: what did i say wrong?!! i said it will be a difficult game and the us team has its motives which won’t make it easy for us!!!

dareen: here’s the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6kWTHwQ9ac

alex: thanks for the info, it is going to be a good game.

By Mostafa | June 21st, 2009 at 1:03 am

tamim i cant wait……. well lets think of it this way were already in the confed and doing goood but since were unsure about qualfcatiion then we might as well give it all and do our best……. and this is bullshit just cuz algeria won there counting us out.

By omar | June 21st, 2009 at 7:40 am

im not worried about the us game if we win or lose we did well…but the wc wtf r we gnna do…we gotta win and win big..its very possible but we have a curse when it comes to makin it to the world cup

By Leila | June 21st, 2009 at 3:31 pm

…

By shane | June 21st, 2009 at 4:31 pm

So much for Egypt. Apalling performance that must have been. Now time to see what Egypt really has over the final 4 games of WC qualifying. If they can’t overtake the Zambians and Algerians what changes will need to be made?

By Sol | June 21st, 2009 at 11:18 pm

@Alex: the 4-2-3-1 is not “a 4-5-1 with the 5 in some sort of wacky arrangement” LOL

It’s the dutch system of playing offense while not forgetting your defence, still have wingers, a striker/goalgetter and an offensive playmaker.

I’d have to see the entire game to see if USA played it well. It’s the latest apllication of total football with advancing backs that operate as second wingers. You need the right kind of players to get it right though, and your attackers need to be in good shape to be able to track back and help in defence, especially on counters.

Posted from Netherlands