Egypt has become the only Arab team to qualify for the African Football Youth Championship, Ahmed Morsy reports Two-time African champions Egypt qualified for the CAF African Youth Championship to be held in March 2011 in Libya after beating Senegal 3-0 in Port Said in the final round of the qualifiers on Sunday. The game witnessed bloody clashes on the field which forced the referee to show three red cards in the dying minutes. The first-leg match ended 1-0 for Senegal a month earlier. The Egyptian team is the only Arab side that qualified for the African championship next year after the elimination of Morocco and Tunisia by Senegal in the preliminary rounds. Algeria and Sudan's hopes to qualify were also ruined during the preliminary and first stage of the qualifiers. In the dying minutes of the game on Sunday, a scuffle erupted between the players after three Senegal footballers carried Egypt's Abdullah Abdel-Azim on their shoulders, trying to stop his assumed time-wasting after he fell to the ground in obvious pain. Players from both sides traded punches and kicks, forcing the referee to send off Egypt striker Amr Gamal and two visiting players. At the end of the game, Senegalese fans were seen ripping out stadium seats. Three minutes past the hour mark, Arab Contractors defender Mohamed El-Nenni broke the 0-0 deadlock after converting a penalty following a foul on Zamalek's promising midfielder Omar Gaber. Five minutes later, Ismaili defender Ahmed Hegazi put Egypt ahead when he curved past the Senegalese goalkeeper and rolled the ball into the empty net after latching onto a deft pass from teammate Mohamed Ibrahim. In the last minute, Ahmed Salah the tripled the score when the Senegal goalie blundered his seemingly passive shot into the net. After the match, Egypt coach Mustafa Younis said he was happy with the win. "I'm likely to remain in my coaching post following the speculation around my future," Younis, the former Ahli player, said. Younis is contracted to a private satellite channel to present a sports show while at the same time coaching. The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) prohibits coaches of national teams from working as TV presenters. "I don't think that my job in the media will influence my coaching post with the Egyptian team," Younis said. He added that if he felt he could not handle both jobs, "I will not leave Egypt's youth team." EFA President Samir Zaher said after the win that he was trying to solve the dispute. "I'm trying to find a new formula by which the continuation of Younis in his post is possible without the objection of already sacked coaches," Zaher said in a phone call to the TV show Modern Sport. "The players gathered in the locker room after the game and kept chanting Younis' name and asked me to keep him on. So, I think he will continue with the team." The youngsters claimed the African youth championship twice before, in 1991 and 2003. Their motivation for clinching the title next year will be high since the leading four places will automatically qualify for the Youth World Cup to be held in Colombia in September 2011.
