Egyptian FA president Samir Zaher denied that the Pharaohs will face fellow Confederations Cup participants Iraq in a friendly game. Iraqi Football Association (IFA) vice-president Najeh Hamoud was quoted earlier on Friday as saying that his country have arranged two friendlies against Poland and Egypt. "The Iraq team will meet Poland in a friendly in Cape Town on June 9 as part of our preparations for the FIFA Confederations Cup," he said on the Asian Football Confederation's website. "We will also play Egypt, although the date of the match has yet to be finalized." Zaher swiftly denied Hamoud's claims. "We were on talks with the IFA regarding a friendly match but didn't reach an agreement and the matter was closed," he told FilGoal.com.
"Egypt will face Oman instead on May 30th before taking on Algeria in the World Cup qualifiers. The team will then fly to South Africa to take part in the Confederations Cup." The Pharaohs face Algeria in a crunch World Cup qualifier on the seventh of June and are scheduled to host Rwanda three days later. The Egyptian FA asked world governing body FIFA to set a new date for the Rwanda tie as they fear the players might suffer exhaustion as a result of the hectic schedule. The six-time African champions will then participate in the Confederations Cup for the second time in their history. They were drawn in Group B along with Brazil, Italy and The United States.
