Defending champions Egypt fly to Angola today with high hopes of winning a third consecutive title in the Orange Africa Cup of Nations, Inas Mazhar reports Egypt is placed in Group C together with Nigeria, Benin and Mozambique. The Pharaohs and the Eagles of Nigeria are favourites to top their group-qualifying matches and pass to the second round. The 16 participating teams are divided into four groups of four: Group A includes hosts Angola, Mali, Malawi and Algeria; Group B comprises of Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Togo; Group D includes Cameroon, Gabon, Zambia and Tunisia. The top two teams of each group will qualify for the quarterfinals of the 27th Africa Cup of Nations. The three-week major sporting event runs from 10-31 January. The Africa Cup of Nations is the third biggest world football event, following the World Cup and the European Cup. Egypt will start its campaign of defending its title with a strong opening match against their main rivals in the group, Nigeria, on Monday. "The opening match in the tournament is usually the most important. Nigeria is our toughest opponent. Still, Mozambique and Benin are good teams. In football, there is nothing called a weak team anymore. If you have managed to arrive to Angola, then you're among the best 16 teams in Africa," said Hassam Shehata, Egypt's head coach. "Winning the first match of the tournament makes it easier in the rest of the matches as you enter the remaining two matches of the group stages more confident. Whereas a loss or even a draw can put any team in a critical position and we want to avoid that." Shehata said. "Of course we're looking for a third title, a historical one for everyone; the country, the team and myself as well, but we'll see how it goes. We're missing some of our key players but we have other replacements and we'll do our best to come out with a satisfactory result." Shehata has been in charge of the team since mid-2004, replacing Italian coach Marco Tardelli. The Egyptian head coach -- who has become the most successful coach in Egyptian football history -- named his 23-man squad for the Africa Nations Cup as follows: Goalkeepers: Essam El-Hadary (Ismaili), Abdel-Wahed El-Sayed (Zamalek), Mahmoud Abou El-Seoud (Mansoura) Defenders: El-Motasem Salem (Ismaili), Hani Saeid (Zamalek), Wael Gomaa (Ahly), Mahmoud Fathalla (Zamalek), Abdel-Zaher El-Sakaa (Eskasheir of Turkey), Sayed Moawaed (Ahli), Mohamed Abdel-Sahfei (Zamalek), Ahmed Fathi (Ahli), Ahmed El-Mohammadi (Enppi) Midfielders: Hosni Abd Rabou (Ahly Dubai), Abdel-Aziz Tawfik (Enppi), Ahmed Hassan (Ahly), Hossam Ghali (El-Nasr of Saudi Arabia), Ahmed Eid Abdel-Malek (Harras El-Hedoud), Mohamed Nagy (Ittihad), Mahmoud Abdel-Razek (Zamalek) Forwards: Emad Meteib (Ahly), Ahmed Raouf (Enppi), Mohamed Zidan (Brussia Dortmund), Sayed Hamdi (Petrojet) The squad misses key players like Mohamed Barakat and Mohamed Abu Treika of Ahly for injury, Mohamed Homus of Ismaili who scored the winning goal against Italy at the Confederations Cup last June, Amr Zaki of Zamalek also for injury and his teammate Ahmed Hossam Mido who was dropped from the team list for technical reasons. The selection was a surprise to many officials and football fans and was criticised by the media. For many, especially opponents, the absence of these key players means Egypt is finished. According to the Shehata, medical reports showed that both Abu Treika and Zaki need at least six weeks of treatment. As for Barakat, his injury is not clear and his shape not stable. All others were dropped for technical reasons. Mido has not played at a Nations Cup after his famous row with Shehata at the semi-finals held in Cairo in 2006. Shehata had called for Mido's replacement and the superstar had refused. Mido was then dropped from the 2008 squad. He was called to join the pharaohs some months ago, but he only took part in one official match and a friendly against Malawi, and was dropped from the squad list that was announced on 30 December. In their quest to defend their title, the pharaohs held two training camps, one at the end of December where the team played a friendly game against Malawi at the Cairo International Stadium. The two teams played to a 1-1 draw. The other training camp was at the beginning of the New Year in Dubai, where Egypt played another friendly against Mali at the Ahly Club of Dubai Stadium. Egypt won 1-0. While some regard these results as not promising from the African reigning champions, coach Shawki Gharieb believes they were beneficial. "These are friendly matches and we are warming up for the event. In such matches, we are not seeking victories with high margins. We take the opportunity to test all our 23 players so we can prepare our starting list for the competition matches." Gharieb said. The local organising committee of the Orange Cup of African Nations has started the sale of match tickets, which can be purchased through two local banks across Angola. The banks are BPC and BAI. The banks are open for ticket sales until 30 January 2010, Monday to Friday, from 08:00 to 16:00, and on Saturdays until 12:30. A total of 450,000 tickets for general seats -- about 50 per cent of the total match tickets -- are already on sale. Hospitality tickets are available from the Local Organising Committee of the Orange Africa of Nations, COCAN 2010.
