The Egyptian national soccer team, also known as The Pharaohs, is the reigning African Cup of Nations champions. Because of this, they will be featuring in the 2009 Confederations Cup in South Africa. They have held this title since 2006. They have always been found to be underdogs in these champions as compared to other African nations that boast of having premier players playing in major leagues abroad. In fact, if you analyze the national team properly, it is made up of players who mostly play in the local leagues and mainly come from either El Zamalek or Al-Ahly. This is one of the first African national soccer teams that do not believe in big names that rule major leagues in Europe. They have a unique style of play where seems everyone can read each others mind and they all work together towards the same purpose which is to win. This is why they are 6 time African Cup of nations champions.
This was displayed very well at the MTN African Cup of Nations of 2008 held in Ghana where in the finals; they were up against a very promising Cameroonian side. A blunder by the very experienced Rigobert Song led Egypt to raise the cup with a 1-0 win over the indomitable lions of Cameroon. In fact, these 2 teams had been drawn in the same group and Egypt had handed them a 4-2 defeat during the group matches. Egypt then went on to beat Sudan 3-0 and then drew with Zambia. In the quarter finals, Egypt was able to defeat Angola 2-1 and then went on to defeat the great Ivorians by 4-1. In short, their style of play that Egypt has does not depend on how good the quality of a player is.
If you analyze most African teams properly, you will find that most of their attacks will be centered towards one powerful figure who has a name or have names in the major leagues in the world. This, most of the times, puts pressure on the stars to perform and when they don’t, all blame is given to them. But Egyptian soccer stands out from all the rest. Everyone in the team is important and their role in the team is greatly appreciated. There are no big names to watch out for (ok….may be just a few who are outstanding). The ball is not directed towards one person to perform. Everyone has to play this role. I think all African countries should borrow from Egypt’s way of soccer.
Nevertheless, some of the names to watch out for are like Amr Zaki, Mido, the ever so splendid goal keeper, El Hadary, Shawky and Ahmed Hassan (captain). Zaki and Mido are well known names in the English premier league but when they are playing for country, you can only notice them when they have the ball. Talk is not all about them but about how the team has worked. Personally, I can say that Africa’s goalkeeper of the year has to be El Hadary. He has splendid save and can make dives that are only seen in the swimming stadiums. The most capped Egyptian player who happens to be the leading scorer and one of the great veterans of Egyptian soccer is Hossam Hassan. He has played in most of the Egyptian soccer national tournaments and has won 5 titles with the national team. He is currently the manager of a local club, El-Masry.
We look forward to seeing the pharaohs do some tremendous work even against teams like Brazil, Italy and Spain. In the group stages of the Confederations Cup of 2009 , Egypt have been put together with Brazil, Italy and USA……..what a tough group!!!
Spanish National Team
English National Team
South African National Team
Brazilian National Team
Italian National Team
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