Egypt's sixth African Cup of Nations brought a different view of how far the players' adventures abroad can benefit the national team. Most critics persistently called on local clubs to ease their financial demands in order to allow players move to European competitive leagues. They cited countries such as Ivory Coast, Cameroon,Ghana and Nigeria as examples For having powerful national teams because their squads consist of European-based players. But Egypt's current squad, which stunned everyone with some dazzling displays to win the 2008 Nations Cup, mainly consist of locally-based players. The likes of Hosni Abd-Rabou, Amr Zaki and Mohamed Abou-Treika demonstrated they can compete at the highest levels. En route to glory in Ghana, Egypt defeated Cameroon twice and crushed the star-studded Ivory Coast, who have players at Arsenal, Chelsea and Barcelona.
Keeping stars in Egyptian clubs may be the first step of improving the quality of domestic competitions After Egypt's impressive displays in the Nations Cup, I believe there has to be a re-think of some commonly-used views in newspapers. If we are to have a competitive Egyptian League, local clubs must keep hold of their prized assets even if they were tempted to sell them by receiving hefty offers. Egyptians are very much self-critical as they consistently say the Egyptian League lacks quality. However, when a high-profile manager such as Jose Mourinho lauds the Egyptian League for introducing such talents to the national team, we must carefully consider his view. Keeping stars in Egyptian clubs may be the first step of improving the quality of domestic competitions. Then we have to improve organizational aspects in order not to have many postponed games and hectic schedules in different parts of the season. Egypt's Nations Cup triumph my prompt a revolution in domestic football.
