By Mohamed El-Sayed The Egyptian national squad will embark on the 2006 World Cup campaign on Sunday against Sudan. Mohamed El-Sayed reports After a series of spectacular failures at the club and country level in the past seven months, and following the humiliating zero received in the 2010 World Cup vote, Egypt will launch its 2006 World Cup qualification campaign on Sunday in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum hoping for something better. Egypt, which has made only two appearances in the World Cup, in 1934 and 1990 both in Italy, will clash with Sudan in Group C which includes Cameroon, the Ivory Coast, Libya and Benin. To prepare, the Italian head coach Marco Tardelli, who replaced Mohsen Saleh following the Egyptians' early exit from the African Cup of Nations in Tunisia in January, held a training camp in Ismailia and then in the Media Production City for a month. Egypt played two warm-ups, with Zimbabwe and Gabon, winning 2-0 both times. While critics thought the two friendlies not enough for readying the squad, Tardelli maintained they were. "They were merely an attempt to settle on the final line-up that will start against Sudan. I know we committed many mistakes during the two matches but they also fulfilled my objectives. "I have already drawn up the plan for Sudan. There is no alternative but to win." Tardelli was also criticised for adding the 38-year-old Zamalek striker Hossam Hassan to the line-up. Although Hassan scored the two goals of the second friendly against Gabon in the dying minutes, critics say he will not be able to play well against more established sides, in official games and for prolonged periods of time. But Tardelli defended his decision. "He is one of the most diligent players I have seen. He sets a good example for his teammates. They have more confidence when he is on the pitch for he possesses a rare fighting spirit which is all-important to the team." Hassan, who first played for the national team in 1986, said recently that he was happy to be summoned for the national squad "at this age". Clinging to the hope of leading the Egyptian squad to the World Cup for the second time -- who led his country to the 1990 World Cup in Italy -- Hassan said he would like to play for just a few minutes in the World Cup. "This will be the last mark I leave in my long career before hanging up my boots." Tardelli will be doing without the services of the Marseilles-based Ahmed "Mido" Hossam and Feyenwoord's Hossam Ghali. Both, according to Tardelli, are "not keen on playing for the national team". Also, Ahmed Hassan of Besikitas, Ahmed Fathi and Mohamed Abdallah of Ismaili were ruled out because of injury. Abdallah's injury during the Gabon friendly, Tardelli said, was a great loss. He was counting on Abdallah to play the right wing, along with Mohamed Abdel-Wahab on the left, to employ the 4-4-2 format. Tardelli was not bothered by FIFAs decision to lift the six-point sanction from Cameroon in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers. The lifting of the ban makes it more difficult for Egypt to reach the World Cup but the Italian was not particularly perturbed, saying that on the contrary, the decision would benefit Egypt before it embarks on its qualifying campaign. The reasoning was that a six-point cushion might have made Egypt too comfortable. Sudan, which has never showed up in a World Cup, also played two friendlies in preparation for their encounter with the Egyptians. They won the first warm-up against Uganda 2-1 before losing 2-0 to Zambia last week in Port Sudan. The Brazilian head coach of the Sudanese squad refused to have the two matches broadcast on TV for fear that the team's strengths and weaknesses be exposed. But it is known he is keen on reinforcing the defensive line-up, considered Sudan's Achilles heel. The match against Sudan will not be aired on Egyptian TV after the Sudanese Football Association sold the exclusive rights of broadcasting the match to the Saudi cable TV network ART for $100,000. The match will be aired on Sudan's terrestrial channels, meaning that Egyptians will have to either subscribe to the cable network or reserve an early seat in one of the many street cafés that broadcast ART.
