Werder Bremen forward Mohamed Zidan has been dropped from Egypt's squad for the international friendly against South Africa on November 15th, national team director Samir Adli said on Thursday. Zidan picked up a knee injury that ruled him out of Bremen's UEFA Champions League match against Levski Sofia on Tuesday and will sideline him for two weeks. “We decided to drop Zidan from the squad after confirming his injury and talking to him over the phone,” Adli told FilGoal.com. Adli said that Egypt's coach Hassan Shehata decided to call up Konyaspor defender Abdul-Zaher Al-Saqqa for the game against South Africa.
Al-Saqqa Shehata opted to replace Zidan with a defender because he is worried Ahli's defenders would be exhausted after their team's African final against Sfaxien on November 11th. Egypt will face South Africa in London on November 15th and Shehata has only named his Europe-based players for the game. Al-Saqqa will join Europe-based players Mido and Hossam Ghaly (both Tottenham, England), Ahmed Hassan (Anderlecht, Belgium) and Amir Azmi (PAOK, Greece).
