AUC Caravan

By Gaser El Safty

Despite a promising start, Egypt’s national football team lost 3-1 in a in a friendly match against England at Wembley Stadium, Wednesday night.

The Egyptian team excelled in the first half, when Mohammed Zidan scored the first goal 23 minutes into the game. However England bounced back with Tottenham Hotspur striker Peter Crouch scoring two goals, and Manchester City’s right winger Shaun Wright-Phillips scoring one.

Despite their defeat, many people were satisfied with Egypt’s overall performance.

“It was unfortunate for the Egyptian team, but not bad overall,” said Moataz Jamal, a third year dentistry student at Cairo University. “We were, after all, playing against England in England.”

Egypt’s FIFA world ranking has dropped seven places, with the Pharaohs coming in at 17th. Eng- land’s ranking on the other hand has improved by one spot, they are now ranked 7th, coming in one spot ahead of Argentina.

The match displayed the skillfulness of the Egyptian goalkeeper, Essam El-Hadary, who was able to save several shots from Premiere and major league players such as Frank Lampard, Theo Walcott and Wayne Rooney.

Striker Mohamed Zidan showed his skillful handling of the ball throughout the match, and more importantly for his goal as a result of English defender Matthew Upson’s slip.

The Egyptian team managed to maintain their one-nil lead till half-time, whereupon Peter Crouch replaced his Hotspur teammate Jermain Defoe, and Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick replaced Lampard.

Hassan Shehata, head coach of the national Egyptian team, substituted Hull City striker Amr Zaki and Al-Ittihad Al-Sakandary midfielder Mohamed Nagy Gedo  for Emad Moteab and AhmedHassan respectively.  Morale was up and 8000 fans, who came to see Egypt at Wembley, cheered for Gedo and the team, with 80 million more doing the same at home.

This half was more eventful for the English team, Crouch evens the odds 56 minutes into the game, followed by Italian coach Fabio Capello substituting Walcott with Manchester City’s right winger Shaun Wright-Phillips and later replacing team captain Steven Gerrard with the Aston Villa midfielder and winger James Milner.

The substitution proved to be successful; with Wright-Phillips scoring England’s second goal after El-Hadary managed to block the first shot from Milner but failed to save to the second from Wright-Phillips. This is when Shehata brought in Al-Ahly striker Mohamed Abu Treika and Zamalek left back Mohamed Abdel-Shafy to replace Zidan and Syed Moawad.

Ten minutes to the final whistle, Crouch scored England’s third goal through an assist from Wright-Phillips, the goal was seen as an obvious offside in the replays, but was counted nonetheless due to the referee not noticing it.

The rest of the match saw the Egyptian teams’ morale drop till the match ended after two minutes of extra time.

“The team has to be criticized for their low stamina,” said Ahmed Maher, a second year Dentistry student at Cairo University, “they had to keep their game up against an opponent like England.”

Maher commented on the difference in speed and precision between the two teams, and how that could seriously affect their game. 

Mina Khouzam, a construction engineering senior and Manchester United fan said he was torn between cheering for his country and players from his favorite team.

“When Rooney was clear on goal against Hadary, it was a bittersweet moment. I didnt know whether I wanted Rooney to score, or Hadary to save.”

Ahmed Badawy, a third year pre-med student at Cairo University agreed with Maher.

“The problem with the Egyptian team is that they’re a one half team,” Badawy said. “Most of the players are old, some over 30, by the second half they get tired and don’t play as well.”

It would be unfair to say the Egyptian people were not hopeful for a victory, but Wednesday was not the day for celebrations on the streets of Egypt.

Many Egyptian fans will be waiting for England’s group game against Algeria during this summer’s FIFA world cup in South Africa.

“Algeria dont have a chance,” said Khouzam. “England are favorites to take the tournament this year.”