After beating South Africa, Egypt qualified for the 2011 U-20 World Cup, reports Ahmed Morsy Egypt finished second in Group A at the 2011 African Youth Championship, after beating South Africa 1-0 on Saturday. This was enough to take the national team through to the semi-finals and qualify them for the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia later this year. Ittihad's forward Mohamed Hamdi successfully broke the deadlock and scored the only goal of the match in the 45th minute to down the hosts and send Egypt to the competition's semi-finals after exploiting a dreadful defensive mistake from South Africa. In the meantime, after the win, Egypt collected six points to finish the group in second place behind leaders Mali, who are on seven points. Egypt is now scheduled to face Cameroon, Group B winners, today on 28 April, for a place in the final of the 2011 African Youth Championship. Meanwhile Mali is set to face Group B runner-up Nigeria on the same day. The semi-finalists in the African tournament will play in the World Cup. As such, along with Mali, Egypt and Cameroon, Nigeria joined the trio in Colombia from 29 July to 20 August for the finals to represent the African continent in the 2011 U- 20 World Cup. Egypt hosted the 2009 U-20 World Cup but was eliminated at the last-16 stage, losing to Costa Rica. The Pharaohs' best position was a third-place finish in the 2001 tournament in Argentina. Egypt kicked off their African Youth Championship campaign with a 2-0 victory over Lesotho last week. It was Ismaili's defender Ahmed Hegazi who headed Egypt into a 48th minute lead, before Arab Contractors starlet Mohamed Salah won a penalty and converted it successfully on the 66th minute. In their second encounter, Egypt fell to a 1-0 defeat to Mali after Amara Konate scored the only goal of the game with a 65th-minute free kick. Egypt coach Diaa El-Sayed expressed his joy after qualifying for the World Cup and to the semi- finals of the African championship. "Egypt's name is much bigger than any football achievement, even if it means reaching the World Cup," El-Sayed said in an interview with Egyptian Radio. "If every individual mastered his work in his field, it would lift this country for the better and take us up to where we deserve. Moreover, we must broaden our perspectives and look forward to introducing these young people in the team first," El-Sayed added. El-Sayed was appointed in January to lead the new Egypt youth team as head coach, as a substitute for Mustafa Younis, who has now resigned. Younis stepped down from his position three months ahead of the African youth championship, as he was unable to successfully combine working with the team with his media job. The former Ahly defender has been in charge of the team for the past couple of years and was able to lead them to the continental finals. However, Younis has his own TV sports programme and has been under much pressure lately to make a choice, which ultimately led him to favour his media career. The decision of appointing El-Sayed as Younis' substitute was described as the best choice, and was approved by the majority of board members, since he has coached this team before.
