Egypt-zambia preview

January 29th, 2008 | by: Tamim | Comments(6)

group c is about to reveal its secrets, tomorrow, egypt will play with Zambia and Cameroon against Sudan to decide who will go through to the second round. egypt is currently on the top of the table with 6 points from 2 matches and has great chances for advancing forward.

in the past two matches egypt impressed all the followers of the tournament with 2 fabulous wins against cameroon 4-2 and sudan 3-0 and is concidered one of the strong candidates for the title. as i said egypt is at the top of the group, cameroon is second with three points and +2 goal difference, zambia comes third with three points and -1 goal difference, then comes sudan with nothing but goals in its nets.

the importance of the match stems from the fact that egypt must win or at least equalize to secure its place at the quarterfinals. it will take zambia 4 goals (unlikely to happen) and cameroon beat sudan to knock egypt away. to avoid these complicated calculations a nice and easy win is a must.

with mohammed abu trika scoring two goals and being in his top form, the choices in front of hassan shehata are broadened. in attack he has meteb, zaki, zidan, abu trika and the unseen talent mohammed fadl. in the midfield there is a real problem, hassan shehata is supposed to choose 2 from hosni abd raboh, mohamed shawky, ahmed hassan and hassan mostafa. actuually he is in a situation that makes me don’t want to be in his shoes at this moment.

pressures will not be as strong as they were in the past two matches, also the match is considered a chance for hassan shehata to try new players, probably tarek el sayed and ibrahim said. if trying new players is optional , replacing mahmoud fathallah with another defender is obligatory because of suspension. the substitute is more likely to be shady mohammed.

concerning the opponent , Zambia started the tournament very strongly beating Sudan 3-0 but they didn’t continue on the same pace and lost from Cameroon 5-1. in this last match, Zambian defense showed what they can offer. they can offer free goals for free, not just that but they also provide entertainment and comedy for the spectators. i heard that the Egyptian circus is considering hiring them to present a show!!. Zambia’s midfield and attack are normal and easy to handle by egypt………… theoretically.

egypt scored 7 goals up till now, all scored by the midfield players. maybe this match we would start seeing amr zaki and emad meteb score or maybe we can see some crosses from the right or the left, maybe they would become useful in attack. ahmed fathi and sayed moawad should really work on their crosses cuz i haven’t seen any proper one till now.

squad:
el hadary
ahmed fathi……..wael gomaa……shady mohammed…….tarek el sayed
ahmed hassan……..hosni abd raboh…….mohammed shawky
abu trika
zidan……emad meteb

match card:
event: egypt-zambia
time:19:00 (cairo local time), 17:00 ( ghana local time)
place: baba yara stadium, kumasi

key matchups:
strikers vs scoring: they should really start scoring
players vs opponent respect: again like the match with sudan , they need to show Cameroon’s match spirit
Ahmed hassan vs himself: he didn’t impress in the last match and wasted an easy chance, he will be in a challenge with himself in this match if he starts from the begining

predictions: 3-0 for egypt