Shawki Ghareb Sinks Egypt Nations Cup hopes
Egypt suffered their second African Cup of Nations qualifying defeat after losing 1-0 to Tunisia at Air Defense Stadium, leaving their hopes of reaching the 2015 Morocco finals up in the air.
A 14th-minute goal from Tunisia star Fakhreddine Ben Youssef was enough to hand Shawki Gharib’s men their second defeat in a row following their 2-0 defeat by Senegal last week.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uSSZAh4ZvE[/youtube] [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxY6Q4oMJ-4[/youtube] [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXUd4Z2lIFs[/youtube]Record seven-time African champions Egypt, who missed out on qualification for the last two CAN editions, now lie at the bottom of Group G with no points – as Senegal are now on top beating Botswana 2-0.
Egypt started the game with a 4-3-3 formation, featuring full backs Hazem Emam on the right and Mohamed Abdel-Shafy on the left – with Ahmed Fathi deployed in a holding midfielder position.
The trio were arguably Egypt’s best three in the first half, with Emam and Abdel-Shafy launching forays down their flanks, unsettling the opposition full-backs throughout.
But it was Emam’s pushing forward what Egypt had to pay for, with Ali Maaloul and Ben Youssef brilliantly combining down the left before the latter superbly dribbled past the below-par Ahmed Saied ‘Okka’ to finish wonderfully past keeper Sherif Ekramy.
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The Pharaohs could have gone two down four minutes later, when Maaloul headed wide a cross from the left, much to the relief of the home fans.
From that point, Tunisia focused on sitting deep and closing down spaces, inviting pressure from the Egyptians – who then spurned several goal-scoring opportunities to level the scoring.
An exquisite long pass from the back by Abdel-Shafi was headed by the in-form forward Amr Gamal into Khaled Kamar’s path to go through on goal, but the latter’s finish was rather disappointing.
Manager Gharib was quick to withdraw the lacklustre Hossam Ghaly and introduce the veteran Hosni Abd-Rabou, whose presence made tangible difference in midfield.
His introduction could have borne fruit shortly afterwards, when a superb team move saw Kamar control the ball inside the left handside of the area before crossing for the onrushing Abd-Rabou – whose free header went wide five minutes from the break.
