CAIRO - Egypt's national football succeeded to crush Australia 3-0 in an international friendly at Cairo Stadium Wednesday night. Egypt's striker Ahmed Abdul-Zaher opened the scoring in the 29th minute of the first-half, as Geddo added the second with his first touch, while Borussia Dortmund Mohamed Zidan scored the third one. Egypt's coach Hassan Shehata says that the match against the Socceroos is a good preparation for his side's African Cup of Nations (ACN) qualifier against South Africa next March. "Australia have many talented players and we benefit from the match," adds Shehata, who played for the national team from 1972 to 1980. He stressed that the main objective of such games was to ensure the players are fully fit and perform well before the important ACN qualifiers. "This international friendly is an important lead-up to the important qualifier against South Africa next March," Shehata explains. Australia, four-time Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) champions, have played in the World Cup on three occasions in 1974, 2006 and 2010. The 61-year-old coach has been criticised because of the team's last month 1-0 loss away to Niger in the qualifiers. The critics have called on Shehata to resign because of the Pharaohs' recent run of poor form, but the coach promises that the team will play better in the near future, helped by the new faces he plans to introduce into the outfit. Egypt drew with unfancied Sierra Leone 1-1 in Cairo. They now tail Group G with a single point. "We thank our fans for supporting us at this difficult time," adds Shehata, who has led the Pharaohs to three successive ACN titles in 2006, 2008 and 2010, making Egypt the first African nation to achieve three such wins in a row. The Socceroos topped their group in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers without losing a match and only conceding one goal, and became one of the first nations to qualify for the finals. They also reached their highest-ever placing, 14th, in the FIFA World Rankings. However, they failed to progress past the group stage in the2010 World Cup. Egypt is currently the top ranked nation in the African Football Confederation (CAF), the reigning Africa Cup of Nations Champions and 10th in the FIFA World Rankings.
