Over the last two World Cup qualifications, Egypt were deprived a place in the World's top footballing competition by teams who weren't considered to be our strongest contenders. In the 2002 qualifications where we were drawn in a fierce group alongside Algeria, Senegal, Namibia and Morocco, we were all worried about the competition from our North African neighbors before Senegal caused the upset and secured the World Cup berth. In the 2006 qualifications where we faced Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Sudan, Libya and Benin and we were also concerted about shrugging off the Cameroonian contention. This time it was Ivory Coast who qualified to the World Cup. Now that we will face Algeria, Rwanda and Zambia, all eyes are already set on the Algerians. The fact that the Mediterraneans played twice in the World Cup and are former African champions makes all of us consider them the side to beat if we want to qualify. But what about Rwanda and Zambia? Can any of them end up surprisingly and god forbiddingly beating us and Algeria to a World Cup place as Senegal and Ivory Coast did before? We need to take a good look at the status of both Senegal and Ivory Coast at the time we met them in qualifications. Senegal never made it to a World Cup before 2002. Their best achievement was reaching the quarter finals in the 1992 African Cup of Nations (CAN).
Hopefully the situation is different this time around and things look better for Egypt's chances of finally reaching a World Cup. However, under the guidance of coach Peter Schnittger, and with the likes of future stars Khalilou Fadiga, Henri Camara, El-Hadji Diouf and Salif Diao Senegal was becoming a force to be recognized even before the qualifiers started. Maybe we didn't pay much attention to their progress, but it was a very steady and fast progress. Ivory Coast were in a similar situation before confronting us in the 2006 qualifiers. They had a better history than Senegal but also never made it to the World Cup. Coach Henri much had a host of brilliant players under his disposal like Didier Drogba, Kolo Toure and Arouna Dindane and they were more than capable of beating us and Cameroon to the World Cup. As for our current group contenders, Zambia don't even have a single promising youngster among their ranks let alone a big star player, and we've all seen them crash out of the first phase during CAN 2008. The Rwandans have a poor record in African football. They've only reached one African Cup in 2004 and none of their team players is famous enough to pose a threat on our team. Hopefully the situation is different this time around and things look better for Egypt's chances of finally reaching a World Cup. All we need to do is maintain the same form that made us twice Africa's champions in a row and none of our group's teams will be able to stop us.
