Egypt assistant coach Shawki Gharib said on Sunday that the defeat to Spain in Saturday's international friendly will not discourage the national team coaching staff. The African champions were downed 2-0 by World Cup hopefuls Spain, courtesy of goals from Raul and Jose Antonio Reyes. "Despite the unjustified bad performance of Egypt's players in the first-half hour, we could have grabbed a draw against Spain," Gharib told FilGoal.com. "Overall, it was a good experience because such strong games benefit our players," he added. Gharib said that the defeat is not considered "catastrophic" and should not make the Egyptians afraid of facing top European teams. "We have to play for friendlies with strong teams like Spain," he said. "We shouldn't be afraid of future match-ups because the score-line wasn't huge."
Egypt, who haven't played a single game since winning the African Cup of Nations in February, have bad memories when it comes to top European teams. They were crushed by France 5-0 in 2003 and then lost to Portugal in August 2005. Gharib explained that the Spaniards were at the top of their game as they are preparing for the FIFA World Cup finals. Egypt's coaching staff is considering playing another international friendly this summer. "We're studying the possibility of facing a South American team on August 16th," Gharib disclosed.
