Egyptian national team coach Hassan Shehata criticized Ahli boss Manuel Jose's comments attacking the Egypt coach for picking four Ahli players to the Uruguay friendly on Wednesday. Jose threatened to resign from his position as Ahli coach after Shehata named four Ahli players to play against Uruguay just three days after they played against Asante Kotoko in the African Champions League quarter final game. "The clubs' is to support the national side and I'm fully aware of all the players' interests," Shehata told FilGoal.com on Tuesday. Essam Al-Hadari, Wael Gomaa, Emad Meteb and Mohamed Shawky were all named by Shehata from Ahli for the Uruguay friendly on Wednesday, before the last two were omitted due to injuries. Meanwhile, Egypt assistant coach Shawky Gharieb said that Shehata decided not to call Roma striker Ahmed Hossam 'Mido' and Tottenham midfielder Hossam Ghaly in order to allow the pair to settle in with their teams ahead of the new season. "We didn't want to call Mido and Ghaly for a friendly game as they both need time to settle in with their teams in Europe," Gharieb told FilGoal.com.
Jose Gharieb added that the team facing Burundi in the 2008 African Cup of Nations qualifier on September won't be including the same players playing against Uruguay, leaving the door opened for more players to be named. Six European based players have been named for the Uruguay clash, including Werder Bremen striker Mohamed Zidan who's called up to the national side for the first time since his elimination prior to the African Cup of Nations on January. Although he will miss the game due to an ankle injury, Zidan said that he is determined to revive his international career. "Despite my injury, I came to Egypt to prove that I'm fully committed to the national side," Zidan told FilGoal.com on Monday. "I didn't expect to be called for the African Cup of Nations, that's why all my phones were closed as I was in the Bundesliga winter break," Zidan said talking about the earlier incident The former Mainz player said that he's optimistic about his start at his second spell with Bremen, adding that he's glad to be playing alongside World Cup German star Miroslav Klose. After missing Bremen's League opener against Hannover on Sunday because of his injury, Zidan confirmed that he'll be back for his team within ten days at most.
