JOHANNESBURG: When a football team is suffering from a massive hangover, Brazil, Italy and the United States are hardly the ideal remedies. Those are the teams preparing FIFA Confederations Cup ambushes for Egypt, whose hopes of reaching the 2010 World Cup received a severe jolt after a 3-1 hiding in Algeria last Sunday. World Cup holders Italy are ranked fourth in the world, Confederations Cup defending champions Brazil fifth and Central and North America kingpins USA 14th with the 'Pharaohs' a distant 26 places further down the pecking order. Egypt won the last two editions of the African Nations Cup and FIFA president Sepp Blatter told the European Parliament late last year that he believed the North Africans could win the World Cup dress rehearsal. "I have seen them winning the Nations Cup twice. Since then their players have been developing and they proved to be one of the strongest teams at the world stage. "I would not be surprised if they can do the same thing in South Africa, said Blatter before the draw for the 'festival of champions', which might have prompted a chance of heart. Brazil in Bloemfontein on June 15, Italy in Johannesburg three days later and the United States in Rustenburg a further 72 hours into the tournament is a schedule designed to test the best. And right now Egypt are far from their best, last in a World Cup qualifying group with just one point from a home draw with Zambia and admitting that if they do not beat Rwanda in Cairo next month it is goodbye to the 2010 finals. Renowned for their defensive prowess, the 'Pharaohs' conceded two goals within five minutes against Algeria, who scored again before midfield maestro Mohamed Abou-Trika grabbed a late and extremely hollow consolation. So what has gone wrong with the team that thrilled Africa when winning the 2008 Nations Cup in Ghana, especially their semi-final demolition of Didier Drogba-inspired Ivory Coast? Coach and strict disciplinarian Hassan Shehata will never admit it publicly but an element of overconfidence may have crept into his camp, leading to an outrageous prediction by Wigan striker Ahmed "Mido Hossam. Before a ball had been kicked in the final qualifying phase for the World Cup, "Mido was predicting Egypt would not only qualify, but become the first African team to reach the semi-finals. The Egyptian media classified a group including Algeria, Zambia and Rwanda as "easy and even after the wake-up call from Zambia, few imagined what was to unfold near Algiers last weekend. Then there is weariness with a highly competitive 30-round national league just completed by clubs who often play twice a week and the recent demise of Al-Ahly as a continental force was a telltale sign. In the space of four weeks, the most successful club in Africa lost on away goals to Kano Pillers of Nigeria in the African Champions League and to equally raw Santos of Angola on penalties in the African Confederation Cup. The wise ones in the sand-speckled streets of Cairo say that when Ahly sneeze Egyptian football catches a cold, only in Algeria it was a severe dose of pneumonia. Winter has arrived on the South Africa Highveld with leaden skies and plummeting after-dusk temperatures and this will be cold comfort for the struggling Pharaohs. Shehata can but hope that key members of his squad - goalkeeper Essam Al-Hadary, defender Wael Gomaa, midfielder Abou-Trika and strikers Amr Zaki and Mohamed Zidan - will be inspired by the stars they confront and turn the tide.
