In the wake of preparations for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations and 2014 World Cup qualifiers, Egypt play three friendly games at the UAE training camp, Ahmed Morsy reports Seven-time African champions, Egypt headed to the Emirates on Tuesday to play three friendly games during a one-week training camp in the Gulf state. They were set to play their first friendly today, against Nigeria, and scheduled to play Angola and Iraq on 14 and 17 April respectively, before returning home. Egypt coach Bob Bradley announced the Pharaohs' squad for the Emirates' training camp on Sunday evening. The squad includes three goalkeepers, namely Essam El-Hadari from the Ittihad team, Ahli's Sherif Ekrami and Zamalek's Abdel-Wahed El-Sayed. As for the defenders, they are Mahmoud Fathallah from Zamalek, Ahmed Said Uka from Haras El-Hedoud, Mohamed Naguib of Ahli, Ahmed Dwidar of the Police Union, and Mohamed Nassif of the ENPPI, alongside Hossam Ghali, also of Ahli.On to the midfielders, Bradley picked Mohamed Abdel-Shafi of Zamalek, Ahmed Khairi of Ismaili, Hossam Ashour of Ahli, Ibrahim Salah of Zamalek, Bassem Ali of the Arab Contractors, Ashour El-Taqi of Wadi Degla, Mohamed Nagi 'Geddo' (Ahli), Ahmed Hassan (Zamalek), Mohamed Abu Treika (Ahli) and Walid Soliman (Ahli). The strikers that were chosen are Emad Meteb of Ahli, Ahmed Hassan Mekki of Haras El-Hedoud, Ahmed Temsah of Dakheliya, Ahmed Abdel-Zaher (ENPPI) and Amr Zaki of Zamalek. The chosen squad excluded several key players such as Ahli's Mohamed Shawki and Zamalek's Shikabala. Midfield star Shikabala, aged 26, was fined by his club for missing numerous training sessions on returning from his international duty last month. He was also omitted from his club's list for the Africa Sports Champions League clash. After playing the full 90 minutes in Ahli's Champions League victory over Ethiopian Coffee on Sunday, Shawki was excluded, despite being a club regular. But he was not surprised by the decision, he said. "My exclusion from the Egypt squad was not a surprise for me, frankly speaking. I am not really concerned about whether or not I am named," Shawki told Ahli's satellite channel. "Bradley's choices are random...I really do not know on what basis players are selected. Before, being included in the national team was important to me. But now representing Egypt has just become a question of duty." Shawki, 30, has not been called once since Bradley took the helm of the national team in September last year, as the Egypt international team had been struggling with consistency for several years. He has become the second player to criticise Bradley's selections after Zamalek striker Ahmed Gaafar voiced anger with the Egypt boss for "continuously snubbing" him back in March. Meanwhile, Egypt skipper Hassan -- the world's most capped player of all time -- was included in Bradley's roster after missing out on the Pharaohs' last camp in Sudan. Other notable selections were Ahli goalkeeper Ekrami and holding midfielder Ashour, who have now received their first call-up by Bradley. Prior to this latest round of friendlies in the UAE, Bradley had featured 60 players in previous friendlies, both in Sudan's training camp and in home games. His target is to reach a 22- player squad after the Emirates camp. The Sudan camp was staged abroad following the cancellation of the domestic league season for security reasons related to last year's revolution. During that camp Egypt played two friendlies. In their first game, they limped to a 2-1 victory against Uganda in Khartoum, in which Ahli and Zamalek players were featured. However, a second-string Egypt side crushed Chad 4-0 in a friendly in Omdurman without its regular, a fortnight ago. Meanwhile, Egypt decided to play their home games in the Africa Cup of Nations and World Cup qualifiers in the military-owned stadium of Borg El-Arab following the FIFA sanction forcing the team to play two matches out of their home ground. "We sent an official notification to the CAF (Confederation of African Football) saying that Borg El-Arab would be our official home ground during the qualifiers," Egypt's team director Samir Adli told the Middle East News Agency (MENA). The Pharaohs were forced to play a couple of games out of their home ground after attacks on Algeria's team bus in November 2009, during a World Cup qualifier game. Adli revealed that the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) had initial plans to play the games in Port Said or Ismailia, but the Port Said disaster that left 74 dead and hundreds injured forced a change of plans. Meanwhile the seven-time African champions are scheduled to face the Central African Republic in 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in June, and kick off their Brazil 2014 campaign in the same month, as they have been paired with Guinea, Zimbabwe and Mozambique in Group G.
