"Salah's generation" wants the eighth star | Sports | '
Seven stars on the jersey – so Egypt is a record holder at the CAN, the African Cup (Coupe d'Afrique des Nations). Also in aligning the African championship, the country is the leader. For the fifth time (1959, 1974, 1986, 2006, 2019) the CAN takes place in the land of the Nile and the Pyramids (21.06 to 19.07.2019). This time, however, it is the first time that it takes place in the summer, and not as usual in the winter.
Egypt is a candidate for the title
Egypt has always been at least a co-favorite at the Africa Cup since it was first held in Ethiopia in 1957 – and Egypt won. The preliminary round should easily survive the team of the Mexican coach Javier Aguirre: Zimbabwe, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are the opponents.
Top star in the team: Mohamed Salah
The biggest competitors are in other groups: Senegal, Morocco, Tunisia, Nigeria and, of course, defending champion Cameroon, as well as Algeria and the Ivory Coast. To bypass these teams for the time being, the group victory is important. "If Egypt took second place in its group, the path would be very difficult," says Egyptian sports expert Hassan Al-Mestekawy.
The strengths of the "Generation Salah"
Today's generation of the Egyptian football team is called "Salah's Generation". Mohamed Salah is the most prominent Egyptian player and according to many sports experts even the best in the history of the country. After Egypt had recently played under the Argentinian coach Hector Cuper very controlled and defensive football, Al-Mestekawy believes in this Africa Cup on a new way of playing: "Aguirre plays with a completely different philosophy and has an offensive orientation," said the expert.
However, relying solely on Liverpool striker Salah is wrong, Al-Mestekawy said: "There must be a group of players who act together, open up opportunities and support them, whether on offense or on the defensive." These players also exist, says Sherif Abdelkader, head of the sports editorial department of the Egyptian newspaper Al-Shorouk: "Mahmoud Hassan Trezeguet, Abdullah Al-Saeed, Amr Warda, for example."
Egypt's biggest weaknesses
But the African record champions also have an obvious problem, Al-Mestekawy admits: "The greatest weakness of the Egyptian teams in particular and the Arab teams in general is the tension and distraction of the players, especially when they play in the big games of the Pressure on the media and the public, "said Al-Mestekaw. The home advantage is also the biggest challenge for Egypt. "When the Egyptian side played the 2008 Ghana championship without pressure, we saw Egypt's best football performance in its history."
Egypt's coach Javier Aguirre
However, the minds of Egyptian football fans have also burned into another event: that of 1974, when Egypt hosted the championship and dropped out of the semi-finals after beating Zaire with two goals. Egypt lost 2: 3, despite the then "legendary generation" of Ali Abo Greisha, Hassan El-Shazly, Mahmoud El-Khatib and Hassan Shehata.
Salah's chance on Ballon d'Or
It was the only time that Egypt did not win the title in its own country. Of course, this should not happen again. Al Mestekawy says: "A team that wants to win can not focus only on defense or attack, for example, if the team defends, the counterattacks must be as fast and intense and successful as the Italian team at the World Cup in the year 1982 showed. "
The fast Mohamed Salah is perfect for this strategy. Hany Abo Rida, head of the Egyptian Football Association, recently visited the training camp of the "Pharaohs" and is optimistic: "Salah promised to do his best to win the championship." He added, "He's struggling to win the Ballon d'Or (Best Player of the Year award, editor's note), and winning the CAN raises his chances."
ليست هناك تعليقات