CAIRO - As Egypt's Youth national football team starts the 17-day countdown preparations for the 2013 World Youth Championship, Egyptians recall aspirations to break the bronze medal achieved at the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship held in Argentina by Egypt U-21 team, which was headed by coach Shawqi Gharib. Egypt's U-20 technical coach, Rabie Yassine, is optimistic ahead of the World Cup fever, describing the group in the tournament as ‘a great challenge,' Egypt's official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported. The Young Pharaohs travelled to Spain to prepare over two weeks, in readiness for the World Youth Championship to be held in Turkey this month. "We are ready for this tough and classy championship. We know how difficult it is, but it will be a real challenge," Yassine said, ahead of travelling to Spain. The 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup will be the nineteenth edition of the U-20 World Cup since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. It will be held June 21 - July 13. In African U-20 Champions, Egypt was in a draw with Chile, England and Iraq in Group E of the World Cup. Ghana, who finished second in the African tournament, will join France, USA and Spain in Group A. The Flying Eagles of Nigeria were drawn into Group B along with Cuba, Korea Republic and Portugal. The Eaglets of Mali will compete against Mexico, Greece and Paraguay in Group D games. "The team will play three games in one of the provinces, 120 kilometres distant from the Spanish capital, Madrid, in preparation for the World Cup in Turkey," Yassine explained. The veteran tactician, who was born in 1960, explained: "During the Spanish camp, Young Pharaohs will play with Romania, Macedonia and Uzbekistan respectively." This year U-20 World Cup marks the first time in its history in which neither Brazil nor Argentina (the most successful teams in the competition) have qualified, with it also being only the second time that Brazil does not take part (the first being at the 1979 edition). Yassine added that the team is scheduled to travel on June 9 to Switzerland to play another two friendlies, one with Brazil on June 15 and the other game opponent has not yet been decided. Subsequently, the team will head to Turkey in mid-June to start the last preparation training camp ahead of the start of the World Cup. "Our group is difficult as Chile overthrew Argentina in the qualifiers, and Iraq, the Asian champion and England, which is one of the most prestigious teams in Europe," Yassine pointed out. He explained that the coaching staff has watched many videos of Egypt's group opponents to try and gauge their strong and weak points. "We will not give up. We want to achieve positive results in the first round and qualify for the second round of the prestigious tournament." Yassine underlined that the current circumstances in the country have affected the Young Pharaohs preparations for the World Cup, but nevertheless he will thoroughly work with the coaching staff and players to achieve a positive result for Egypt in the tournament. The winners and runners-up from each group, as well as the best four third-placed teams, will qualify for the first round of the knockout stage (round of 16).
