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Egypt
Squad Announced for the “Make or Break” Qualifier
Comments(44)
Well, it’s only 1 week away and it may well decide whether the reigning 3 time African Champions take part in the next edition of the African Cup of Nations …
But I seriously doubt that anyone is even remotely interested in watching the game. Yes, even the craziest Egyptian football fanatics right now are showing complete indifference towards football and the national team. Politics is the new football in Egypt. We now have 80,000,000 Politicians instead of the former 80,000,000 Hassan Shehatas.
“Be3eed 3an el 3ein, Be3eed 3an el 2alb”
The above is a very famous quote amongst Egyptians which translates to: “Away from the Eye, Away from the Heart”. It applies fully to the situation we are in now. We have not seen except a match or two since the revolution started on the 25th of January and it has naturally gone down everybody’s priority list as a result.
Anyway enough whining for now and let’s shed some light on the game itself. Al-Ahly and Ismaily have both played games during the past week and as Mark Wotte (aka Mark Foota) the Ismaily manager pointed out, both teams had a deteriorating level of stamina as the games progressed. Al-Ahly scored a goal in the 3rd minute and went on to get dominated for most of the game, while Ismaily scored their two goals in the first 20 minutes and would have been punished later on had they been up against formidable opposition. So expect the same for Egypt against RSA, a good start followed by a steadily declining performance.
Not much is expected out of this game from the national team and I highly doubt that anyone cares about the outcome as well. Here’s hoping the team does not show as much lack of interest in the game as the rest of the country does. (not that it matters.)
The 23-man squad for the game:
Goalkeepers:
Essam el Hadary (El Merrikh, Sudan), Abdelwahed el Sayed (Zamalek), Mohamed Sobhy (Ismaily)
Defenders:
Wael Gomaa, Ahmed Fathy, Sayed Moawad (Al-Ahly), Mahmoud Fathallah (Zamalek), Mohamed Naguib (Ittihad el Shorta), Ahmed Samir Farag (Ismaily), Ahmed el Muhammadi (Sunderland, England)
Midfielders:
Mohamed Abu Treka, Hossam Ghaly, Mohamed Shawky (Al-Ahly), Ibrahim Salah, Shikabala (Zamalek), Walid Solaiman (ENPPI), Hosni Abdrabo, Amr el Souleya (Ismaily)
Forwards:
Ahmed Bilal (Semouha), El Sayed Hamdy (Petrojet), Ahmed Ali (Al-Hilal, KSA) Mohamed Nagy “Gedo” (Al-Ahly), Mohamed Zidan (Dortmund, Germany)
Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 44 comments.
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I’d be really upset if Egypt doesn’t get a good result in this one. You guys won the last three African cups, the defending champs can’t not qualify for the next edition! Even if the revolution takes precedence, I’m sure a lot of people care a great deal about the outcome of this encounter.
Is it the fact that a lot of footballers, including coach Shehata, were on the “enemies of the revolution” blacklist that there is some apathy towards the side now?
http://goo.gl/zYU2R Guys good news the Clash gets broad casted on Aljazeera sport Free channel, we’re getting some Qatari Love 
i dont like to ask about the predictions but can Hassan shehata pull it off this time too?
Thank you for the info Amr! good luck to Egypt!! ISA kheir 
Salam ya shabab I hope you all are doing great and your families as well inshallah …..
Nice to be talking football again.
Egypt 2-1 my prediction
Does anybody know war time is kick off
Sorry what time is kick- off
Yeah Rami, this has a huge effect. People are sharpening their knives over here waiting for them to screw up in South Africa. Hassan Shehata is a dead man walking if he doesn’t win over there and save some face.
But everybody now is pretty much more interested in politics, you open the home page on facebook where it used to be either girls gossiping or boys fighting over football, now it’s all political debates 
Bahaa, always good to hear from you my friend. I hope you are doing great.
hamouda, same for you. Or should I say Dr. hamouda
Thank you Hany always a pleasure. I hope all is wellwith you and your family. Ya I have political debates non stop here with my family and friends. Most don’t agree with me but what can I say I always speak my mind and try to be rational rather than emotional.
I like how the first thing that the Egyptian Football Association thought of doing to Cut its costs was to cut down it’s coach’s salary before a crucial match…. Rabna Yestor!
Amr come on its not like the cuts will affect his life dramatically and he’ll go begging and if he has that kind of mentality then he shouldn’t even be the coach of the Egyptian team. Before I used to get really upset when anyone attacked Shehata now I honestly dont care not just about him but everyone in the football world
Posted from 
United States
Cool, Hany. Same in Tunisia (re. political debates on Facebook and in public places). Our national team wasn’t as close to the regime as your side though and people mostly weren’t happy with our players before the revolution because they were jealous of their high salaries and weren’t seeing any good results from them in return. Then during the revolution none of them protested but no one came out in support of Ben Ali either. They just kept quiet and most people weren’t surprised by it because the system was working for them. Winning the CHAN after the revolution certainly helped erase some bad memories too because we saw that our players were finally fighting for the flag instead of their paychecks and bonuses.
In any case, I hope you guys get the win despite the difficult circumstances!
thanks Remi, I Hope the best for the Tunisia football team and Tunisia and its people as well.
Posted from United States
Of course Adham_k The feeling is mutual. I’m really happy that these recent events have brought the Egyptian and Tunisian people closer together. A fair sporting rivalry is all good but in the end we’re brothers and we must never forget that! Go Pharaohs!
Bahaa,
it’s 2:05pm ET, 18:05 GMT.
and atdhe.net is now here: http://atdhenet.tv/
AFAIK, it was only the US domain names that were shutdown.
hmmm…..dont know if i want them to win or loose???
Posted from 
Australia
Heyy guys, can someone tell me what time the match is london time. thanks guys appreciate it
18:05 GMT
Thanks Hatem for the new ATDHENET and Rojadirecta links
I just checked them, they still didn’t appear, does anyone know how to find the aljazeera sports channel online or any other streaming link?
oops, i’m a bit early
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Hadary
Gomaa – Ghaly – Fathallah
Elmo – Hosni – Fathy – Moawad
Shikabala
Sayed Hamdy – Zidan
My ideal formation but it’s not gonna happen. Treka is definitely going to start and Zidan is most probably going to be on the bench with Ahmed Ali taking his spot. I’d be very surprised if both Fathy and Hosni did not start in the middle. I think Ghaly has played really good in the Sweeper position and is more fit than Hany Said for that position.