The Egyptian national football team, led by head coach Ehab Galal, will face Ethiopia on Thursday, at Bingo Stadium in the Malay capital, Lilongwe, as part of the second round of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers.
In the first round, Egypt beat Guinea 1-0, in the match that brought them together last Sunday evening at Cairo Stadium.
Yasser Ibrahim, the team’s defender, caught a severe cold that prevented him from traveling with the team’s mission, despite his negative test for Coronavirus.
The coaching staff of the Egyptian national team, led by Ehab Galal, in coordination with the medical staff led by Mohamed Abu El-Ela, decided to complete Mohamed Abdel Moneim’s rehabilitation in Cairo.
Galal decided that winger Ahmed Sayed Zizou will enter the basic squad of the Pharaohs against the Ethiopian team in the second round matches of the qualifiers for the African Nations Cup 2023 in Côte d’Ivoire.
Galal is also discussing with his assistant staff pushing Omar Marmoush and Ibrahim Adel, in front of Ethiopia, to be an alternative to Mohamed Salah.
The technical staff of the first Egyptian football team also included Ahmed Refaat, player of Future FC, and Baher Al-Mohammadi, player of the Ismaili club, to the camp of the Egyptian national team in preparation for the next Ethiopia match, and Yasser Ibrahim was excluded after suffering a strong cold.
It is expected that the national team will play tonight’s match with a line-up consisting of Mohamed El-Shennawy (goalkeeper), Ayman Ashraf, Baher Al-Mohammadi, Al-Wensh, Omar Gaber, Amr Al-Sulayya, Hamdi Fathi, Imam Ashour, Mostafa Mohamed, Zizou, and Omar Marmoush.
Historical dominance
We highlight the history of the Egyptian national team’s confrontations against Ethiopia.
Egypt and Ethiopia met 17 times, the Pharaohs won 13 times, while two matches ended in a draw, and Ethiopia won twice. Egypt scored 56 goals, and Ethiopia scored 14 goals.
The Pharaohs will play an away match against Ethiopia, in the second round of the fourth group of qualifiers, which is scheduled for 6 pm Cairo local time Thursday.
The first confrontations between Egypt and Ethiopia was in the African qualifiers for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, and the Pharaohs won 4-1 home and 5-2 away. Ethiopia beat Egypt 4-2 in the 1962 AFCON, before the Pharaohs won 3-0 in the 1963 AFCON.
In the 1990 AFCON qualifiers, the Ethiopian team won 1-0. In the second leg, the Pharaohs won 6-1. In the 1992 AFCON qualifiers, Egypt defeated Ethiopia twice 2-0.
Egypt won the first African title at the expense of Ethiopia in 1957, while Ethiopia won its only title at the expense of Egypt in 1962.
Shimlis Beckley, Ethiopia’s most valuable player
The Ethiopian team includes a large number of distinguished players, and the marketing value of the Ethiopian team is $1.78m. Shimlis Beckley, the striker of El Gouna, is the most valuable player in the Ethiopian team. He played 54 international matches in various tournaments since 2010, including only two matches in the AFCON, 20 matches in the World Cup qualifiers, 24 matches in the qualifiers for the AFCON, and 8 friendly matches, with a total of 4,125 minutes.
The Ethiopian national team also includes a number of players, most notably Abu Bakr Nasser, Gatush Banum, the Ethiopian star of St. George, Yared Bayeh, who plays for the Ethiopian club Fasil Kenema, and Fasil Gebremichel, the goalkeeper of the Ethiopian team and Sebeta Kenema club.
