Ahmed Hassan's second-half strike gave Egypt a precious 1-0 victory at Rwanda on Saturday to remain in the hunt for a place in the 2010 World Cup. A lack of cutting edge could have cost the Pharaohs a much-needed win but skipper Hassan, who played instead of inspirational playmaker Mohamed Abou-Treika, scored the winner on 68 minutes in a goal-mouth scramble. Egypt remain second in Group C of the qualifiers with seven points, behind leaders Algeria on goal difference. Algeria can regain their three-point lead if they beat Zambia, who have four points, at home on Sunday. Only the group winners will qualify for next year's South Africa finals. Abou-Treika was initially included in the starting line-up but pulled out after picking up an injury in the warm-up. Petrojet striker Al-Sayed Hamdi made his competitive debut to partner ENPPI's Ahmed Raouf upfront due to the absence of Egypt's key frontment. The deep-lying forward repeatedly switched to the flanks to make use of his skills and create space for his teammates. His low cross after five minutes evaded Rwanda keeper but none of Egypt forwards got on the end of it as the hosts' defense cleared the ball. Egypt had a couple of half-chances afterwards through a Hassan shot and a Hosni Abd-Rabou header but their sole goalscoring opportunity fell to Raouf on 34 minutes.
Valuable win for Egypt He pounced on a weak headed back-pass by a Rwanda defender but his inaccurate acrobatic effort went wide of the post. Limited attacking options continued to haunt coach Hassan Shehata after Hamdi sustained an injury. He was replaced with Lierse striker Mohamed Al-Gabbas, who also made his debut. Breakthrough The Pharaohs continued to push forward in the second half but were not helped by Raouf's sluggish moves and Ahmed Fathi's imprecise crosses from the right flank. A free header from central defender Wael Gomaa narrowly missed the target four minutes after the restart. Egypt survived a rare Rwanda scare three minutes later when keeper Essam Al-Hadari superbly tipped over Olivier Karekezi's powerful long-range shot. Versatile midfielder Mohamed Barakat, who was not fully fit to start the game, replaced the ineffective Raouf to inject zeal. The energetic runs of Barakat and Al-Gabbas helped Egypt carve out decent chances until they finally made the breakthrough eight minutes past the hour mark. Fathi was picked out unmarked on the right hand side of the penalty area before laying off the ball to Abd-Rabou, whose mis-hit shot was diverted into the net by Hassan from five yards out. The African champions could have doubled their advantage on several occasions but were content to claim all three points and keep alive their hopes of reaching the World Cup for the first time since 1990.
