Futsale has finally hit Egypt, and the national team is being given the chance to kick itself into the spotlight. Inas Mazhar reports The Egyptian futsale team will take on Russia today in the third day of Egypt's first International Futsale Championship that kicked off last Tuesday at the pyramids plateau. For the first time, six futsale teams are experiencing play in a glass court erected specially for the occasion at the pyramids plateau. The competition is seeing the gathering of the worlds top teams and giants of the game. Brazil, the world's top ranked team and runner-up at the last world championship in Guatemala, is of course in the most magnified spot. Other participants include world number four Russia, number seven Argentina, and the eighth seeded Italy, 11th seeded Uruguay, and hosts Egypt -- who placed sixth at the last world championship in Guatemala. Traditionally an indoor game, Egypt's futsale championship is unique and unprecedented. The game will be taken to the open air; kicking off with an open-air display by the international guests. "This is the new trend of the Egyptians," said Ibrahim Hegazy, editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram Riyadi Magazine and head of the Organising Committee of Al-Ahram Championships. "In particular the officials at Al-Ahram Organisation, which has taken on the task of presenting all that is unique to the world through sports and to introduce our history and tourism to the world through the international language of sports." What Al-Ahram has done with futsale, however, is not quite unique in a sense. "Futsale isn't the only game which we had taken to the open air," Hegazy said. "We have previous similar experiences and successes with indoor games such as squash and billiards." Hegazy explained that since Al-Ahram Organisation first organised an international tournament at a historic site in 1996, it decided to maintain its policy in combining tourism and sports. "We have both facilities," he said. "Maybe we don't have the money to build golf arenas like in Dubai that cost millions of dollars, or to construct a route to host the World Formula One car race worth billions of dollars as Bahrain is doing right now to appear on the world sports map," he continued. "But our history and tourism are the best locations to take us to the world and from that we are going to benefit and take advantage." The glass court -- with the same measures of a traditional pitch -- has been constructed specifically for the occasion, with daily hard work witnessed unfolding there for the past month. The court is surrounded by a 3000-seat spectator stand, and play is under the watchful eye of the sphinx. The tournament events extend far beyond the realm of regular tournament play. The six teams will play a one-round competition -- with the two daily matches being played after the Iftar. In half times and between games, spectators will enjoy Ramadan nights in one of the Ramadan tents that have been set up for the occasion. Drinks, oriental sweets and Shisha will be available to all. Italy will take on Uruguay in the opening match at 8.45pm, followed by the Argentina-Egypt showdown at 10.15pm. On Wednesday, Brazil will meet Italy while Argentina will face Russia. Today, Brazil will play against Uruguay while Egypt will take on Russia. The semifinals will take place tomorrow when top of group A faces the second rank in group B. The other semifinal will witness first place of group B versus the second rank of group A. The finals will be held on Saturday, when three matches will take place. Play will start at 6.45pm with the play-off for the fifth and sixth places. The match will be followed with the battle for the third and fourth places. The final will kick off at 10.15pm. According to Hegazy, it won't be just be competition and Ramadan celebrations. Education will be a part of the event too. "We have taken the opportunity to benefit from the FIFA officials who were invited to witness the event," Hegazy said. "There will be a futsale refereeing clinic and Pedro Galan of FIFA will lecture Egyptian referees. There will also be another clinic for coaches and the Brazilian's head coach Fernando Louis Cardosous will lecture the national coaches." Along with Hegazy, Hisham Azmi, board member of the Egyptian Football Association and FIFA representative at the championship, will negotiate with other participating FIFA officials the future of this international event. Discussions will include whether the event will be an annual FIFA event or a FIFA intercontinental championship. Al- Ahram organisers are counting on the success of this year's event -- which will be looked upon as a rehearsal, or pretournament for next year's official event. The participating teams have called up all their professional Europe-based players to take part in the championship. The Italians have temporarily stopped their league championship to allow national team players to fly to Egypt to represent their respective nations and compete against the top teams of the world. The Egyptian team have fully prepared for the event under the supervision of head coach Emad Soliman, the former national team and Ismaili club striker. The so-called pharaohs underwent an intensive training camp at the Olympic City in Ismailia, where they trained twice a day. The training sessions mainly concentrated on increasing speed, since the game requires both high fitness and speed. The training camp ended on Sunday, after which the team joined the guest teams at the game's headquarters at the Movenpick Hotel in the 6th of October City. The Egyptian team comprises 14 players: Ayman Abdel- Rahman and Yasser Abdel-Khalek (goalkeepers), Gihad Arafa, Mahmoud Abdel-Hakim, Tamer Ismail, Wagih Abdel-Azim, Ayman Ibrahim, Samir Seif, Hisham Ali, Khaled Mahmoud, Wael Abou El-Qomsan, Samir Sabri, Adel Fathi and Said Abdel-Naeim. National team supervisor Mamdouh El-Shafei has bet on Brazil, Italy and Egypt to claim the first three spots, respectively, at the championship. "If we are luckier, we could place second depending on whether or not we take full advantage of playing at home amidst our fans," he said. El-Shafei has called on Egyptian fans for supporting -- urging them to attend the six-day event, which will serve as a warm-up for the national team's preparations for the African Qualifications to the coming World Championship.
