Egyptians close in on semifinals
Güncelleme Tarihi:
AFP
OluÅŸturulma Tarihi: Haziran 20, 2009 00:00
RUSTENBURG - Surprise package Egypt takes on Bob Bradley's underperforming United States on Sunday with a place in the Confederations Cup semifinals within its grasp.
The Pharaohs turned up in South Africa under a cloud after making heavy weather of early qualifying for next year's World Cup.
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But Hassan Shehata's African champion has confounded the critics with two inspired performances against Brazil, an unlucky 4-3 loss, and Italy. Mohamed Homos' first half goal against the world champion in Johannesburg on Thursday blew Group B wide open.
A win over the States will put Egypt on six points and into the last four if Italy fails to beat defending champion Brazil. Victory for the Italians will put all three teams level, with goal difference the deciding factor.
"Going into the last game there's the possibility of Egypt, Brazil and Italy all being level," Egypt’s assistant coach Shawky Gharib told AFP.
"In any event the initiative is in our own hands. If we win by a wide margin we will go through regardless of what happens in the other game." Looking back on their first two games Gharib added: "Our first match against Brazil we were not very confident and made a lot of mistakes, but against Italy we played with more confidence and gained an historic win." Exciting times then for the Egyptians who could be without striker Mohamed Zidan, the author of a double against Brazil but who went off with a hamstring injury in Thursday's match.
Defender Wael Gomaa, whose job will be to contain the U.S. captain and all time leading scorer Landon Donovan, added: "We know we will need to work hard to beat the United States and qualify for the next phase." Winger Ahmed Fathi predicted: "The Americans will be difficult but we have to win it to go through."
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But Hassan Shehata's African champion has confounded the critics with two inspired performances against Brazil, an unlucky 4-3 loss, and Italy. Mohamed Homos' first half goal against the world champion in Johannesburg on Thursday blew Group B wide open.
A win over the States will put Egypt on six points and into the last four if Italy fails to beat defending champion Brazil. Victory for the Italians will put all three teams level, with goal difference the deciding factor.
"Going into the last game there's the possibility of Egypt, Brazil and Italy all being level," Egypt’s assistant coach Shawky Gharib told AFP.
"In any event the initiative is in our own hands. If we win by a wide margin we will go through regardless of what happens in the other game." Looking back on their first two games Gharib added: "Our first match against Brazil we were not very confident and made a lot of mistakes, but against Italy we played with more confidence and gained an historic win." Exciting times then for the Egyptians who could be without striker Mohamed Zidan, the author of a double against Brazil but who went off with a hamstring injury in Thursday's match.
Defender Wael Gomaa, whose job will be to contain the U.S. captain and all time leading scorer Landon Donovan, added: "We know we will need to work hard to beat the United States and qualify for the next phase." Winger Ahmed Fathi predicted: "The Americans will be difficult but we have to win it to go through."