The under-20 football team succeeded where the adults failed, reports Abeer Anwar Egypt is going to the football World Cup -- for juniors, though, not seniors. After Egypt failed to make it to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the young Pharaohs this week reached the semi-finals of the CAF Orange African Youth Championship, snatching the bronze medal after beating Mali 1-0, and thus qualifying to the U-20 FIFA World Cup which gets underway in Col o mbia on 29 July. Cameroon beat Nigeria 3-2 in final. The first four teams reached the World Cup. The fight for the third place of the 17th edition of the Orange African Youth Championships took place at Dobsonville Stadium in South Africa . The match started with the Malians attacking while Egyptians tried to find their way on the ground. But Mali's efforts were in vain while Egypt's Mohamed Ali took a golden opportunity to snatch the match's sole goal on the 58th minute. Mali pushed hard for the equaliser but the Egyptian defence proved air tight. "I am very happy with the team's achievement," Egypt's coach Diaa El-Sayed said. "Although we wanted to play in the final it was enough that we were able to qualify for the World Cup and to represent Egypt." El-Sayed added that the team made up for their loss to Mali in the preliminaries of the competition. In Colombia, Egypt fell in Group E with mighty Brazil, Panama and Austria. In preparation, Egypt will play one friendly match against France, two against Columbia and two against Uruguay. "I think we have a good chance in the World Cup and I hope we end up in a respectable place," El-Sayed said. Meanwhile, Magdi Abdel-Ghani, Egypt's member in the CAF Regulations Committee, was kicked out of the African U-20 Championship after being accused of receiving money for monitoring the event even though he attended only a handful of matches. When he returned to South Africa, officials there refused Abdel-Ghani entry into the stadium, saying they had received such orders from CAF, the African football federation. A number of local Egyptian newspapers attacked Abdel-Ghani for what they said was an affront to Egypt - - he is a member of the Egyptian Football Federation - - accusing him of tarnishing the country's image. But Abdel-Ghani, a former Ahli and national team star, said, "I am not representing my country but only myself... this is a personal problem that has nothing to do with Egypt." Shortly after the tournament began, Abdel-Ghani was quoted as saying on filgoal.com that he returned to Egypt for personal reasons.
