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Squad announced for Rwanda’s game……seriously?!

August 25th, 2009 | By: Tamim | 15 Comments »

The picture is for a traditional Egyptian dish composed mainly of Zucchini aka “koosa” which is also used in spoken Egyptian Arabic as a synonym for haphazard, spontaneous and stupid decisions.

What does this have to do with the squad selected for Rwanda’s game?…..everything I say; in fact this is the best word to describe Shehata’s selection of players to play in this very critical and fate deciding game in the history of Egyptian football.

Take a look for yourself:

Goalkeepers: Essam Al-Hadari (Ismaili), Al-Hani Soliman (Ittihad), Mahmoud Aboul-Saoud (Mansoura).

Defenders: Hani Saied, Mahmoud Fathallah (Zamalek), Wael Gomaa, Ahmed Fathi, Sayed Moawad (Ahli), Ahmed Al-Muhammadi (ENPPI), Ahmed Saied ‘Ouka’, Ahmed Kamal (Harras Hodoud)

Midfielders: Mohamed Abou-Treika, Mohamed Barakat, Ahmed Hassan (Ahli), Abdul-Aziz Tawfik (ENPPI), Ahmed Eid (Harras Hodoud), Hosni Abd-Rabou (Ahli Dubai), Mohamed Shawky (Middlesbrough), Mohamed Shabaan (Petrojet)

Strikers: Al-Sayed Hamdi (Petrojet), Ahmed Raouf (ENPPI), Ahmed Salama (Harras Hodoud), Mohamed Al-Gabbas (Lierse)

Given the terrible form El Hadary is suffering from this period, the next logical option was to choose either Abdel Monsef who is excelling lately or Ahmed Adel Abdel Monem, the new Ahly goalkeeping star or even in the worst case, Mohamed Sobhy given his experience.

But to choose Aboul Saoud, probably his first time to play outside Egypt, is a great and dump risk; what if El Hadary gets injured during the game? and Soliman isn’t a better option because he too lacks international experience!!!!!!

Shehata’s choice of defenders is good, no can argue with it; the question is who will be in the starting line up given Fathallah’s terrible mistakes in Zamalek’s matches lately, mistakes that we can’t afford in Rwanda.

In midfield, well, let’s start with the bright side; Barakat is back; although not in full form but he is back and we can use some oh his talent even if it will be for some part of the game.

The bad part is, Shawky and Hosni are selected….I don’t know if it is favoritism or not, but common sense says that a player who didn’t play competitive football with his club since ages, and I mean ages, won’t be ready for such level of intensity in a world cup qualifier; Hosni on the other side is way out of form; in fact, he only finished his preparation camp with his club a couple of days ago.

Why didn’t Shehata choose any of the local talents with international experience such as Hassan Mostafa, Hommos, Ahmed Shabaan….etc who are at least in a better form than Shawky and Hosni.
In the attacking line, comes the worst.

Trivia: do you recognize any of the above mentioned names? Can you mention their club without re-checking the roster?

Seriously…. How can Mido, Zaki, Shikabala, and Zidan be excluded while Ahmed Salama and El Gabas, for god sake, are chosen. These players won’t endure the pressure in such game and will simply spoil any attack we do because their finishing would be terrible, not because they lack talent but because they have no previous experience of competing on such level.

Hamdy and Raouf are good, they better be, but let’s hope they will have the guts to play in such a game!!!

If Shikabala’s and Zaki’s exclusion is because of injury then that is a very ignorant reason because it isn’t that serious and they would be back in 4 or 5 days; I really can’t understand the decision about Shikabala especially after he saved us in Guinea’s game.

One last thing is why Hazem Emam wasn’t chosen!!!!

I don’t know, but let’s stay positive and hope that any 11 players fielded at this game would be up to the expectations and return with precious 3 points…until this time Forza Zambia!!!

Give your say….. Is it koosa or btengan?

Tags: algeria, egyot, mido, rwanda, shehata, shikabala, Team News, Zaki, zambia, zidan

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Comments

By MoMONEY | August 25th, 2009 at 8:47 pm

I smell problems. And we cant afford problems. This could be the beginning of the end for our dreams… Hope they prove me wrong SOMEHOW

By amo | August 26th, 2009 at 12:28 am

its just a shame to see some of the talent that some of these egyptian players have go 2 waste like mido zaki zidan all talented players wasting there chance wif problems wif the coaches on a local and national level then u have players like shikabala n hazam nt piked when we need them and a player like hosny nt even playing for club or playing uae ive given up on watching egypt playing in the world cup

Posted from Australia

By Tamim | August 26th, 2009 at 3:33 am

i really don’t understand shehata…if mmido is out of form, then shawky and hosni are also out of form, why choose them nd leave mido….weird!!

or maybe he is going to change tactics and play with one striker, sayed hamdy, and abu treika behind him so he didn’t choose a lot of strikers!!!

By abdelrahman | August 26th, 2009 at 3:58 am

Let’s be positive!
The starting line-up will not be that bad or surprising, as I think it will be 90% like that;
Elhadary, hany saeid, fathalla (oka), gomaa, fathi, moawad, hosni, shawky, treika, eid (hamdi), raouf.
My worry will be about subs, no keeper, in midfield hassan (so slow) and barakat which is not 100% ready!! Upfront we have gabbas ex-masry striker and current belgium 1st division lierse (that say is it all)??!! And nice hair guy salama (he is good talent but not this game to start with), I realy respect and admire shehata as a manager and agree for not choosing mido (fitness), zaki (busy thinking about europe), zidan (behaviour) but Y leaving shikabala, even if u don’t start him u can still use him as very successfull sub that can change the game with moments of self briliance but again let’s be positive about this guy cuz at the end he certinly has a point of view and doesn’t want to risk his job???

Posted from United Kingdom

By Amir | August 26th, 2009 at 7:47 am

I think it is time to forget about Zaki, Mido and Zidan. They showed zero professionalism. Shikabala is a big question, but i think Shehata doesn’t wanna risk the injury and he is not sure how permanent is his form.
As of the new faces, it is always good to bring fresh blood during the hard times. They will do great believe me.
Remember when Ahly went with the young team against Zamalek (Hosam Hassan and the gang) and there are many other similar situations when the new blood was the best choice.
I am starting to be optimistic… we need this change.

Posted from Hungary

By Abdullah | August 26th, 2009 at 10:35 am

Damn that dish looks so tasty right now lol ! Best of luck to you guys

Posted from Netherlands

By Tamim | August 26th, 2009 at 12:14 pm

lol andullah, etfadal m3ana, isn’t coelho giving you some koosa!!

Amir: pass this spirit on please

By Rachid | August 26th, 2009 at 5:01 pm

Tamim, the way you put it, it sounds you guys are going to be “rotated and advanced” in Rwanda! Why has everyone abandon the NT in such a critical time? You’re going to need them to come back with a win from there. I still hope that you do with this crowd. Good luck!!!

Posted from United States

By Tamim | August 26th, 2009 at 5:12 pm

Rachid: i didn’t abandon the national team…..i was just frustrated by shehata’s choice of players, not because they lack talent, no but because they don’t have the experience needed for matches like these!!

i will always be the national team’s biggest fan even if they lose everything and if you read till the end of the post, i said let’s stay positive and support the team.

ya rab isa they will win and thanks for your wishes

By abdelrahman | August 27th, 2009 at 6:43 am

It has been said that zaki will be emaxined by national team doctor on Friday and there a big chance he will join the sutarday training isa, and aslo shikabala is injured for 3 weeks!!
I told shehata will not risk his job, he has limited choices especially upfront with mido unfit, meteb injured and zidan failing to show loyality to egypt
I suggest we play the same way we played against algeria in the 1st half, and try to use counter attacks which we r good at as thr rwanda defence looked very open and week in the earlier game (but their keeper was good), hope elhadary is in his day becuz he realy makes the difference (remember italy)

Posted from United Kingdom

By Dareen | August 27th, 2009 at 1:57 pm

Why did he choose these goalkeepers????? there all worse than the other.Ahmed Hassan shouldn’t even play international football any more he is slow and costs us many fouls. I just hope we don’t go in thinking Rwanda is an easy challenge and then screw up the game like we did with the usa and so many other games before. well good luck to the NT may God be with them

By Tamim | August 28th, 2009 at 6:35 am

good news…..Zaki is in for the game!!

By Abdullah | August 28th, 2009 at 7:13 am

heheh Tamim i just hope Coelho will be able to get us some fit strikers first, after that i’ll have some koosa and mesa3a

Posted from Netherlands

By Noah | August 28th, 2009 at 5:53 pm

Ya Tamim, Zaki is back in the squad people! he has recovered from a groin injury and that means shikabala also may be included! inshallah

Posted from Australia

By Amir | September 2nd, 2009 at 10:42 am

both are injured… what’s more, abotreika and barakat are injured… wtf

Posted from Hungary

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