Meet your Egypt U-20 world cup squad

11 days from now we will be cheering for them as they represent the future of Egyptian football in a major international tournament held, for their luck, in Egypt which means that they will have more exposure and fame than any other previous team, in case of their success, or a devastating collapse, in case of their failure.

Unfortunately, in the midst of non-stop hype surrounding the local league, player transfers and Egypt world cup qualification campaign, this team has been almost ignored and didn’t get sufficient media coverage; however, when the media did, they only covered their losses in periods of players’ experimentation, so you can call it negative coverage.

The end result is that we know nothing about this team, except its coach, Sokoup, and Mohamed Talaat, Ahly’s forward.

The squad was announced this week but it would have been completely meaningless to post names without even putting their clubs but to my surprise, I found a report in Al Shabab Magazine offering info about the players and their potentials; I should say it was totally accidental because this the first time I read an issue of the magazine since…..since……never!!!! (No I am exaggerating, I read it a couple of times before.)

The point is, I am going to rely on the reporter’s evaluation and present it here to you, I will also post matches’ schedule of our team and our history in this tournament as well as various bits and pieces.

Team Roster

Goalkeepers: Mohamed Abu Gabal, Ali Lotfi, Mohamed Bassam

Defenders: Ali AL Arabi, Salah Solieman, Ahmed Hegazy, Saad El Din Samir, Moaz Elhenawy, Islam Ramadan, Ayman Ashraf.

Midfielders: Mahmoud (Touba), Ahmd Magdy, Mostafa Mahmoud (3afroto), Mostafa Galal, Ahmed Shokry, Hossam Hassan, Hesham Mohamed, Shehab El Din Mohamed.

Strikers: Mohamed Talaat, Hossam Arafat, Ahmed Fathi (boogi)

Technical staff
Head coach: Miroslav Sokoup (Czech Republic)
Coach: Hany Ramzy
Goalkeepers coach: Mohamed El Saify

Team schedule

24/9, Borg El Arab stadium, Alexandria: Egypt vs. Trinidad & Tobago

28/9, Cairo stadium, Cairo: Egypt vs. Paraguay

1/10, Cairo stadium, Cairo: Egypt vs. Italy

Note: the first and second of each group qualifies automatically along with the best four teams in third position.

Who is who?

Goalkeeping:

Mohamed Abu Gabal: ENPPI’s first goal along with Mahdy Solieman distinguished with good physical characteristic from height and fitness as well as his special skill in saving penalty kicks

Ali Lotfi: another goalkeeper from ENPPI

Mohamed Bassam: plays at El Geish club; they say he is at the same level of skill like his partners.

Defense:

Ali Al Arabi: plays as a winger at ENPPI youth team distinguished with his accurate long balls and good crosses, fast and good at covering in defense

Salah Solieman: a Ghazl El Mahalla regular starter for the first team, so he should have some experience; good at interceptions.

Ahmed Hegazy: the tallest player at the team, plays for Ismaily, serious at his play and controls his opponent striker; a good talent to watch.

Saad Samir: plays for Ahly youth team, good at aerial challenges, high spirit has discipline in the field.

Moaz Elhenawy: Team’s captain, plays for Ahly youth team; distinguished with cool nerves in difficult situations and always keeps his cool to lead the rest of the team.

Islam Ramadan: Haras El Hdoud’s left winger, speedy, can cover for defense, has a good control on the ball.

Ayman Ashraf: plays as a left wing for Ahly’s youth team; good in playing corner kicks, has a good shot

Midfield:

Mahmoud Touba: centerfield, plays for Ahly, has a good effort, good at interceptions

Ahmed Magdy: attacking midfielder, plays for Ghazl El Mahalla, similar to Barakat in skills, speed, passes and a good scorer.

Mostafa Mahmoud: attacking midfielder, good assists, good control on the ball, fast.

Mostafa Galal: no information!!

Ahmed Shokry: attacking midfielder, plays for Ahly, essential for the team, very skillful, most goals came through him, keep an eye on that guy.

Hossam Hassan: center midfield, plays for ENPPI, skillful, good at intercepting and passing the ball and controlling midfield.

Hesham Mohamed: attacking midfielder and sometimes a striker, plays for Ahly, skillful, good control on the ball, controls the tempo of the game, has a good finishing.

Shehab Mohamed: can play in various positions, short, good in physical challenges, good tactical abilities, good crosses and can score goals.

Attack:

Mohamed Talaat: team star, scored in the Egyptian league last season with Ahly, high skills and good finishing but moody.

Hossam Arafat: plays for Zamalek, fast, high skills, excellent set pieces, puts the team in attack mode.

Ahmed Fathi: plays for Canal club, physical play and good scoring skills.

worth mentioning, is that this team was formed by Rabei Yassine after a round trip allover Egypt looking for talents and these players are the result of his work.

Here are some games for the team

Impressions

I have seen this team play a number of times in different periods and I have to say that they improved every time I saw them; in a friendly tournament held in France, they appeared well organized and had tactical discipline and shown ability to control a game but they were a complete failure in attack and couldn’t create chances or use the ones they had.

Later, I saw them in a friendly against USA here in Cairo, they were good and could keep up with a physical opponent and seemed better in attack, then they played a tournament in South Korea and they showed maturity achieving good results by beating Japan and south Africa, only to lose to South Korea.

They came home and played a friendly cup here and showed huge development in attack and scored a lot of goals against African opponents like Ghana and Nigeria.

In other words, this team develops on regular basis; my only concern is that they didn’t play in a full stadium ever, so I am afraid when the real tournament comes and the stadium is packed with 80 thousand fans, they would panic.

The presence of Hany Ramzy on the bench, however, comforts me as he could control his players and provide them with help and assistance based on his wide and varied experiences as a player and coach.

Eye on the record

We have a great record in the u-20 world cup; actually winning a bronze medal in 2001’s edition in Argentina after beating sides like Netherlands, Finland, USA, Paraguay coming after a huge defeat by Argentina 7-1; this is arguably, the best achievement by Egyptian football in the international scene.

In 1981, we reached the quarterfinal after beating Germany and drawing Mexico and Spain before losing to England.

In 2003, we lost in the quarter final to Argentina by a golden after qualifying as one of the best teams in third position after beating England with a historic goal from Emad Meteb

In 2005, we lost our 3 games against Germany, USA and Argentina and crashed very early.

What’s now?

We are playing a friendly against Venezuela this week and another against Tahiti next week.

If there are any readers here from Alexandria, please head to Burg Al Arab stadium on 24 and support our team; I know it will be the first time ever that a football match held in Alexandria gathers 80 thousand fans but it will be worth it; here in Cairo, I will attend as much matches as I can.

I will post a preview of the tournament and tips for fans visiting Egypt within this week.