Egypt lost two consecutive friendly football games against African opponents, going down to Ghana 3-0 and Ivory Coast 4-2. Both games were played in the UAE. Against Ghana on Saturday, Egypt's American coach Bob Bradley attributed the loss to the absence of Ahli players who were busy in Saudi Arabia participating in the retirement game of Saudi star Abdullah Al-Shereda. “The Egyptian players are completely different in matches than in training,” Bradley said after the game. “They can't play under stress and there is still a lot to go.” He also attributed the loss to the stoppage of the national league and cup events “which affected the team's performance significantly. “The Egyptian player has to be trained to always look for victory and fight for it. They have to have enthusiasm and have hope in what's coming.” “The time is too short to make up for all the mistakes of the national team's players,” Khaled Latif, a board member of the Egyptian Football Federation, said. “We have only two months before the important match against Zimbabwe in the African qualifications for the World Cup of 2014. It's enough that the national team missed the African championships and we were the title holders. We don't want more losses.” “These friendlies are very good for revealing the mistakes of the players especially since local matches are not being played. We should work on correcting any mistakes before it's too late.” Mid-way in the six-game schedule, Egypt is on top of its group in the African World Cup qualifications with six points followed by Guinea with three points. Egypt is using the friendlies to ready for the African qualifications for the 2014 World Cup which are due to restart in two months with a match against Zimbabwe. Meanwhile, the Ghanaian national team views the friendly match an important stop in its preparation for the Africa Cup of Nations (ACN) which starts on 19 January in South Africa. Egypt missed out on the ACN for the second time in a row after winning the tournament three consecutive times and seven times altogether, both continental records. Ghana is in Group 2 with Congo, Mali and Niger. Ghana and Egypt have met 20 times on the official and friendly level. Egypt has won 10 games while Ghana five and five ties. Egypt scored 32 goals while Ghana struck for 19. Their first match was in the Olympic Games qualifications of 1960; Egypt won 2-1. The last match was in the 2010 ACN final in Angola when Mohamed Nagi Gedo scored for Egypt in a 1-0 win. It was the seventh friendly match to be played by the Egyptian national team in the United Arab Emirates since Bradley took over two years ago. The team played five friendlies in Qatar and four in Sudan. Zaki Abdel-Fattah, the national team's goalkeeper coach, allowed Ahmed Al-Shennawi to play against Ghana. Essam Al-Hadri, Egypt's No 1 goalkeeper said Al-Shennawi “shouldn't be slaughtered for allowing three goals. He did his best especially in the first half.” “The players should be given an equal opportunity to play, especially in friendly matches,” Al-Hadari added. In their history Egypt has played Ivory Coast 22 times, winning 12, losing six and drawing four. In the process, Egypt scored 28 goals while Ivory Coast notched 22. The first encounter between the two teams was in 1970 in the ACN when Egypt won 3-1. The last official match was historic, the semi-finals of the 2008 ACN in Ghana where the Pharaohs crushed the Elephants 4-0 before going on to win the title against Cameroon in the final. Ivory Coast is preparing for the ACN championship where the team is in Group four, the supposed group of death, which includes Algeria, Tunisia and Togo. It also tops its group in the African World Cup qualifications, one point ahead of Tanzania and two ahead of Morocco. The Ivory Coast match was the 139th international for Al-Hadari who turned 40 this week. He is behind former teammates, the twins Hossam and Ibrahim Hassan who have played 184 and 169 matches respectively and who have retired. Al-Hadari has altogether played six times against Cote d'Ivoire, allowing just four goals. Before the games this week, Egypt dropped a notch in this month's FIFA ranking from 40 to 41. The rankings for both Ali and Zamalek, the country's traditional powerhouse football clubs, also dipped due to the lack of national league and cup tournaments following last year's football tragedy in which 74 fans were killed in a horrific soccer riot. The league is set to start a new season on 2 February.
