CAIRO: Egyptian national team manager Hassan Shehata expressed his frustration with the Egyptian Football Association s (EFA) decision to cancel the international friendly against Kuwait due to Egyptian clubs continental and regional commitments.
It is abnormal that local clubs are given the priority over the national team, I can t understand the EFA s decision, Shehata told Mehwer TV.
The fixture has been set a long time ago and all teams were informed, but Ahly and Ismaili claimed that their African commitments on the 20th and 21st of April make it difficult for their players to appear for Egypt on the 17th, so we advanced the game one day.
The friendly which was scheduled for the 17th of April has been initially rescheduled for the 16th upon Ahly and Ismaili s requests before being cancelled completely.
The decision to cancel the Kuwait friendly was further strengthened when the Arab Union Football Association s (UAFA) scheduled Zamalek’s match against Faisaly in the Arab Champions League (ACL) on April 17.
However, Shehata believes that Ahly s friendly against Barcelona on April 24 is the real reason behind the saga regarding the fixture.
Ahly s friendly against Barcelona on the 24th forced them to move the Sundowns game to the 20th, and thus they re-objected the rescheduling on the 16th claiming a fixture pile-up, he added.
The EFA eventually suggested to its Kuwaiti counterpart to reschedule the game for the 12th of June and the latter welcomed the suggestion.
