CAIRO: Hassan Shehata voiced his anxiety with the level of performance of goalkeepers within the Egypt setup in the meantime.
Egypt’s coach criticized first-choice keeper Essam Al-Hadari, in addition to backup guardians Amir Abdel-Hamid and Abdel-Wahed Al-Sayed.
Al-Hadari conceded three goals with Sion in the last match, Amir was beaten by two goals against Petrojet that an amateur would have saved, and Abdel-Wahed is inconsistent with Zamalek, Shehata said in Al-Hayat TV.
However, Al-Hadari remains to be the best of the worst.
I hope the Egyptian Football Association would prohibit clubs from signing foreign keepers in order to give a chance to young Egyptian keepers. This is better for the national team.
Shehata admitted that he warned Al-Hadari from joining any club in Egypt other than Ahly, where he spent most of his career.
Al-Hadari, who left Ahly last year in what one of the most notorious incidents in recent sport history, was linked with the Egyptian champions rivals Zamalek and Ismaili in recent months.
I advised Al-Hadari only to join Ahly if he decided to return to Egypt. I think if he played for Zamalek or Ismaili it would be a wrong step in his career, Shehata said.
The former Zamalek star revealed that he was approached by the fallen Cairo giants during former chairman Mamdouh Abbas reign, but the latter s bid was unsuccessful.
Mamdouh Abbas asked me if I could coach Zamalek with the national team, but I had to turn down the offer because it was difficult for me to do so, he said.
Shehata is currently preparing for next month s World Cup qualifiers clash with Zambia in Cairo.
