The African champions Egypt are preparing for their friendly against England, which will be on March 3 in Wembley Stadium, as part of England's preparations for World Cup finals in South Africa in June. Meanwhile, with this game, Egypt are getting ready for the African Cup of Nations qualifiers on September. The Pharaohs are seeking a record fourth title in a row, having won the continent's prestigious title for the third time in a row and the seventh time in total. Egypt's coach Hassan Shehata has named veteran Mohamed Abou Treika and Amr Zaki, neither of whom participated in the Angola ACN edition, due to their injuries. The team features players who won the title last month: Essam el-Hadari (Ismaili), Abdel-Wahed el-Sayyed (Zamalek), Mahmoud Abul-Saoud (Mansoura), Wael Gomaa, Sayyed Moawad, Ahmed Fathi (Ahly), Mahmoud Fathallah, Hani Saeed, Mohamed Abdel-Shafei (Zamalek), Moatassem Salem (Ismaili), Ahmed el-Mohamadi (Enppi), Abdel-Zaher el-Saqqa (Eskisehirspor, Turkey), Ahmed Hassan (Ahly), Shikabala (Zamalek), Abdel-Aziz Tawfiq (Enppi), Ahmed Eid (Harras Al-Hodoud), Hosni Abd Rabou (Ahly, UAE), Hossam Ghali (Nassr, Saudi Arabia), Emad Met'eb (Ahly), Ahmed Ra'uf (Enppi), el-Sayyed Hamdi (Petrojet), Geddo (Al-Ittihad) and Mohamed Zidan (Dortmund, Germany). Egypt's team held a training session on Thursday in Cairo, while they're also going to hold a camp before flying to England on Sunday. The friendly is important for both Egypt and England. Egypt's coaching staff believe that the Wembley game will be an historic one. For England, the game is very important as they will encounter Algeria in Group C of the World Cup, which also includes the US and Slovenia. Egypt were eliminated from the World Cup qualifiers after losing to Algeria 1-0 in Sudan last November. Rio Ferdinand will miss England's friendly with Egypt because of the back injury that will also keep him out of Sunday's League Cup final against Aston Villa, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson Reuters reported on Thursday. Ferguson also confirmed that Brazilian midfielder Anderson would be out for the rest of the season with a ruptured cruciate ligament, an injury sustained in United's 3-0 Premier League win over West Ham on Tuesday. Ferguson said Anderson, “had shown great energy and enthusiasm” on Tuesday, but would be out for at least six months. Ferguson added: “Rio Ferdinand is also out for Sunday, but his back injury is not serious. There's good news with light at the end of the tunnel for Ryan Giggs, who'll be back in training soon.” Giggs has not played since fracturing his arm against Aston Villa on February 10. Defender Ferdinand, who has already missed a large part of the season because of his back problem, felt a twinge in training earlier in the week. He was due to captain England against Egypt, following the recent demotion of former skipper John Terry.
