CAIRO: Egypt coach Hassan Shehata blamed his strikers for the slipped-away victory over Ghana in Wednesday’s friendly at the Cairo stadium.
The Pharaohs played out a tame 2-2 draw in an exhibition game that was held as a part of both teams preparations for the final phase of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.
Former Zamalek star Shehata said the game could have ended in a deserved win for Egypt if the front-men hadn t wasted so many clear-cut opportunities in the first half.
You wouldn t pull off a win if you squandered so many chances, this is football, Shehata stated after the match.
We would have been able to score four goals at least, but Amr Zaki, Ahmed Hassan and Mohamed Zidan failed to convert a host of golden chances.
Apart from his disgruntlement with his side s performance, Shehata believes Egypt s warm-up matches will pay dividends ahead of the remaining World Cup qualifiers.
Our previous game against Kenya was not really taken seriously, but today s meeting was an international friendly, and we acted accordingly, the 59-year-old tactician explained.
For this reason, I didn t make so many substitutions. It was a full-scale dress rehearsal for our upcoming clash with Zambia in the World Cup qualifying stage.
On why he deployed Ahmed Fathi as a left-back in the second half, Shehata said: I was sizing Fathi up. He has been playing as a midfielder with Ahly for a while, and I wanted to see his abilities as a wide man.
