Egypt’s Olympic national football team, led by Shawky Gharib, began a three-day camp on Wednesday evening, to prepare for the upcoming Tokyo Olympic Games.
The camp is expected to take place from 2 to 4 June, with the team to enter a closed camp as on 5 June as part of their preparations for the event.
The Pharaohs are preparing to compete in the Tokyo Olympics in July, following the event’s postponement for a year due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Egypt is set to play two friendlies against South Africa, which has also qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, after it took bronze at the African Championship, behind the Egyptian team’s gold. The first match has been scheduled for 10 June, whilst the second will take place on 13 June.
Gharib announced a list of 30 players, including goalkeepers: Mohamed Sobhy; Mahmoud Gad; Omar Salah; and Mostafa Shobeir.
In defence are: Osama Galal; Mohamed Abdel Salam; Mohamed Abdel Moneim; Ahmed Ramadan (Beckham); Mahmoud Al-Gazzar; Karim Al-Iraqi; Ammar Hamdi; Ahmed Abu Al-Fotouh; and Karim Fouad.
In midfield are: Akram Tawfik; Imam Ashour; Ahmed Saeed; Nasser Maher; Hassan Ali; Mohamed Sadik; Ramadan Sobhy; Ahmed Abdel Kader; Ibrahim Adel; Taher Mohamed Taher; Omar Marmoush; and Fawzy El Hanawy.
And the team’s forwards are: Mostafa Mohamed; Ahmed Yasser Rayan; Salah Mohsen; Nasser Mansi; and Fadi Farid.
Source said that Gharib will settle on the final list during the current Pharaohs camp, while the five weakest players will be dispensed from the current list of players. At the Tokyo Olympics, the Pharaohs will play against Argentina, Spain, and Australia.
Gharib finally settled on three older players who will be included on the team at the Olympics, according to the Olympic regulations, which stipulate the inclusion of a maximum of three such players.
Mohamed Salah, Mohamed El-Shennawy, and Ahmed Hegazy have all been included on the squad, with Gharib deciding to benefit from their experiences.
The normalisation committee of the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) is facing a crisis over the postponement of a number of league matches, especially after Al Ahly’s participation in the CAF Champions League.
The sources added that the committee rejected any postponements of league matches in the current season, especially since the committee had set more than one date. It had also set the end of next September as the deadline for ending the competition, which is the date set for ending the competition since the beginning of the current football season.
Clubs have also rejected match postponements, and stressed that they will not play any matches without their international players who joined the national team for international competitions.
