Egypt goalkeeping coach Ahmed Soliman revealed that Mohamed Zidan will return to the national team's fold after serving a three-month ban for disciplinary reasons. Zidan, who joined Borussia Dortmund from Hamburg before the closure of the transfer window, was suspended by the Egyptian FA in June for faking injury. He apparently wanted to be part of Hamburg's pre-season preparations rather than playing for Egypt in their World Cup qualifier against DR Congo. But Egypt's technical staff intends to lift his ban as they declared themselves pleased with his conduct during the past two months. “He behaved well during that period. He didn't make any offensive comments towards the technical staff after being banned,” Soliman told Modern Sport late on Thursday. “Zidan will soon return to Egypt's squad.” The six-time African champions have virtually secured their place in the second phase of the World Cup qualifiers after defeating DR Congo 1-0 in Kinshasa. They will have an easy task against minnows Djibouti in their last Group 12 game on October 12th.
Barakat ruled out of Egypt plans No Barakat Return Soliman ruled out the possibility of recalling Mohamed Barakat to Egypt's squad. The Ahli man fell out of favor with head coach Hassan Shehata after missing the 2008 Nations Cup campaign, citing fitness problems. But widespread reports at that time suggested that the mercurial midfielder intentionally skipped the tournament which Egypt won in Ghana. Barakat made no secret of his frustration towards Shehata, the attitude which the highly-respected tactician didn't like. “We were infuriated by Barakat's repeated criticism of us. We will not tolerate such comments from any player," Soliman added. “Consequently, we decided that Barakat will not be part of our plans for the future,” he concluded.
