Brimming with insistence and enthusiasm, the Egyptian Pharaohs are starting their qualification matches tomorrow to restore their stolen fame and secure more titles after already having bagged seven. They have thereby set a new African record by winning three consecutive titles between 2006 and 2010, but have missed qualifying in the last two editions of the event. The team is eyeing a return to African football fame under a new head coach, Shawki Gharieb, a former Egyptian midfielder who won the continental title as a player in 1986 before achieving the same feat as assistant to Hassan Shehata three-times in a row in 2006, 2008 and 2010. Gharieb is also known for guiding Egypt to their best achievement in the history of the FIFA U-20 World Cup — a bronze feat in 2001 in Argentina. He took over last November following American Bob Bradley's ouster after leading the national team to a horrible defeat to Ghana 7-3 on aggregate during the 2014 FIFA World Cup playoffs. Egypt will start its Orange Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2015 qualifying route with a Group G away match to Senegal on September 5. It will also host Tunisia five days later in Cairo. The group also includes Botswana. Meanwhile, a new obstacle is facing the national team after the first Ebola case appeared in Senegal through a traveler that was coming back from Nigeria. This prompted both the players and their officials to send an official letter to the CAF to ensure the safety of the Egyptian national team. In addition to that, the Egyptian Embassy in Senegal is taking very strong medical and security measures to keep the Egyptian delegation in a safe and healthy atmosphere. “To qualify for the 2015 AFCON, we have to start well,” Gharieb told the press as Egypt started their preparation camp in Aswan. “Our group is a tough one and we have to start on a positive note. We respect Senegal, Tunisia and Botswana equally, but our target is to qualify for the final tournament in Morocco. Egypt has missed the last two editions and that is not befitting of a team with our name and reputation,” he added. The 55-year old has named 30 players for the camp, 12 of whom are professional players. “For the first time in ages we have a large pool of players based abroad. In addition to the experienced ones like Essam El-Hadary, Hossam Ghaly, Hosny Abd Rabou and Ahmed Fathy, there are many young names and new recruits who are capable of defending the national team jersey in the coming games. We tried to lower the age average and build a new Pharaohs team with an average age of 23 years.” According to Cafonline, Gharieb was quoted as saying, “Playing in big European leagues such as the English Premier League and the Portuguese and Swiss leagues will benefit the national team. Also the local based ones are ready because most of them played with Ahly in the CAF Confederation Cup and with Zamalek in the CAF Champions League. I hope all of them will be ready and fit for the games ahead.” In their friendly match held in Aswan, Egypt beat Kenya 1-0. Ahly midfielder Amr Gamal scored the only goal on 80 minutes for the Pharaohs. Gharieb attributed the team's weak performance to the absence of professional players, in addition to its being the first station where players are still suffering from a long absence from the African scene. Furthermore, the Egyptian Youth team lost a golden chance to qualify to the under-20 African Youth Nations Cup after their 2-0 defeat to Congo in the first leg of the final round of the Orange African Youth Championship Senegal 2015 qualifiers, whilst Ghana and Cameroon were held at home. Holders Egypt will be absent from the Orange African Youth Championship Senegal 2015, which was completed at the weekend. The failure of the Egyptians means that, for the first time since 2009, the reigning champion will play no part in the final tournament of the biennial youth championship. The Young Pharaohs were ousted by their Congolese counterparts despite managing a 2-1 win in the second leg clash of the final round qualifier on Sunday in Alexandria. The Congolese progressed 3-2 on aggregate. Other qualified teams are Mali and South Africa, who joined Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana and Zambia.
