While acknowledging that the game will not be easy, Egypt’s coach Hassan Shehata is confident of his players’ abilities to defeat South Africa in their crucial 2012 African cup of nations qualifier on Sunday.
“It is not logical that the defending champions, Egypt, will not qualify for the finals,” Shehata was quoted as saying by Al Ahram newspaper on Saturday.
We will bear in mind the memory of being the tournament champions for the last three successive editions. We will do our best in the field to defend Egypt’s reputation and also to regain confidence in ourselves,” the 61-year old coach added.
Egypt, who lay at the bottom of the Group G table with a single point behind South Africa (seven), must win to keep alive their hopes of playing in the finals, hosted in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
Shehata refused to enter a war of words with South Africa’s coach Pisto Mosimane who recently seemed confident of winning the Pharaohs clash, adding, “They are the group leaders and we know that they need only one point to qualify, but we will prove our worth on the pitch”.
Egypt will play South Africa Sunday June 5th 2011
The match will be live on NileSports.com (Click here to view the live TV page)
Watch the Egyptian Team Training
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