Victory of sorts

By Nashwa Abdel-Tawab
It was not the best of starts for Egypt's national football team -- even if it was on the winning end. Despite a 2-1 victory over the United Arab Emirates in a friendly on Saturday, few observers were smiling.
The match was fraught with errant passes and poor finishing in front of both goals. There were flashes of brilliance from Hossam Hassan, the 34-year-old Egyptian veteran who celebrated his 150th cap to equal the record set by Germany's Lothar Matthaeus. Junior sensation Ahmed Hossam, who plays for Belgian side Gent, was another bright spot for the Pharaohs but in the end the encounter could only be characterised as nothing out of the ordinary.
Proceeds from ticket sales and advertisements went to the Al-Aqsa Intifada as a sign of solidarity with Palestinians fighting Israeli troops in the occupied territories for over three months. But a steady drizzle, cold weather and mid-term exams resulted in just a few thousand spectators showing up for the night-time match and lower than expected gate receipts.
Those who braved the elements left Cairo Stadium disappointed by a game which rarely got into second gear, unfortunate because the match kicks off the first of seven games in January, two of them crucial. Most are friendlies to be used as warm-ups for African and World Cup qualifiers but the hard part will come against Libya and Morocco. Egypt will face Libya in their African Cup qualifiers encounter on 14 January in Cairo. Egypt currently leads Group C with two victories over the Ivory Coast and Sudan. Egypt is in Group 7 of the World Cup qualifiers along with Morocco, Senegal, Namibia and Algeria. The squad played to a scoreless draw against Senegal in Dakar in July, putting it in what most observers believe is a must-win situation against Morocco on 28 January in Cairo.
Egypt will also meet Italy and the winner of China vs Iran in a four-team tournament in Tehran on 17-19 January. The country will host North Korea in a friendly in Cairo on 23 January.
The UAE used the game for its own Asian World Cup preparations in a preliminary round in April which includes games with India, Brunei and Yemen.
It was the seventh meeting between Egypt and UAE, and the first in Cairo. Egypt had won three times, lost once and drew twice.
It was the first match for the Egyptians since October, when they beat Qatar 1-0 in a friendly in Doha and Sudan 1-0 in Khartoum in an African Cup qualifier.
Against the Emirates, defender Ibrahim Hassan scored the winning goal in the 70th minute after the UAE opened the scoring in the first half from a penalty. Ahmed Hossam levelled early in the second with a blistering low drive that skidded past Gomaa Rashid.
Coach Mahmoud El-Gohari, who took the country to the 1990 World Cup in Italy and led it to the 1998 African Nations Cup, started the match boasting eight players based in Europe, the only notable absentee being Benefica striker Abdel-Sattar Sabri. UAE French coach Henri Michel, formerly at the helm in Morocco, had to make do with a less formidable arsenal. Injuries and the absence of several key players due to club commitments had depleted the UAE squad which was forced to use rookie players and second-stringers.
The first real scoring chance from either side came in the 18th minute, when Ahmed Hossam received a no-look pass from Yasser Radwan in the penalty area but sent the ball straight to the goalkeeper.
In the 30th minute, amid some sloppy ball control but against the run of play, the UAE scored the go-ahead goal from a penalty after defender Ibrahim Saeed brought down striker Yasser Salim. Defender Abdel-Salam Gomaa calmly slotted the ball home to give the UAE a heady 1-0 lead.
For Saeed, Ahli's stalwart who has come into his own this season, the penalty signalled what has become a recurring theme. He was responsible for another spot kick, against Tunisia in the 1999 African Nations Cup, which probably cost Egypt a place in the semi-finals.
The rest of the half saw the hosts trying desperately for the equaliser. In injury time, Hossam Hassan came as close as you can get when he lobbed a free kick into the upper right hand corner only to see Rashid parry the ball away, the goalkeeper jumping so high that his body was almost parallel with the crossbar.
Five minutes into the second half, substitute Tareq El-Said, voted Egypt's 2000 Player of the Year by sports critics, found Ahmed Hossam whose split-second feint gave him enough room to squeeze a left-footed shot through. Three minutes later, Hossam Hassan came close again when he received a pinpoint cross from Hani Ramzi and sent a powerful, picture-perfect scissor kick over the bar by mere inches.
Ibrahim, Hossam Hassan's twin, gave Egypt the final say. Hossam headed from a well-executed over. The ball hit the post and bounced to Ibrahim, stationed just in front, who found little difficulty in sweeping the rebound in. Haphazard attempts to stretch the lead came to naught.
It was a gutsy performance by a weakened UAE side, but for an Egyptian team at almost full strength it raised eyebrows, not to mention several question marks.
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