CAIRO: Egypt captain Ahmed Hasssan believes that his side's 1-1 home draw with Malawi won t affect the Pharaohs preparations for the African Cup on Nations (CAN). The six-time African champions played out a tame stalemate with minnows Malawi in Tuesday s exhibition match, which is considered to be frustrating the Egyptians. However, Hassan reckons that warm-up games don t reflect the real caliber of the teams. Egypt always fails to record good results in friendly games, but they pull off victories in competitive matches, the 34-year-old told Nile Sports. The technical staff were trying to put new faces through their paces during the match, and that s why we struggled for fluency. We also lacked concentration. But friendly games never take a toll on us. We also couldn t impress in the friendlies that preceded CAN's last two editions. Egypt has won back-to-back African Cup of Nations titles in 2006 and 2008. Hassan Shehata s side will be the first team to claim the continental title for three successive times should they win the forthcoming competition in Angola.
