Egypt paid the price for an ultra-cautious strategy against a Paraguay side who played with ten men for 57 minutes in Monday's U-20 World Cup clash at Cairo Stadium. When Paraguay defender Ronald Huth received his marching orders for a last-man foul on Egypt striker Mohamed Talaat and Afroto scored from the ensuing free-kick, things should have swung Egypt's way. A brilliant curler from Afroto restored parity after Egypt fell behind to Federico Santander's opener on 27 minutes which silenced 54,000 attendants at Egypt's second-largest stadium. After the equalizer, Czech coach Miroslav Soukup was expected to make the most of the Pharaohs' numerical advantage by introducing a second striker to support Talaat, who was playing as a lone frontman. Zamalek's newly-signed striker Ahmed Fathi 'Bougi', a combative one, was seen as an ideal choice. Soukup did not make any changes though. "The coach left Talaat isolated upfront," football analyst Khaled Bayoumi told Arab Radio and Television network (ART) following Egypt's second game of the tournament. "Talaat is not a superman to do everything and run everywhere, he should have been supported." Bougi came off the bench in the dying seconds to replace Talaat but it was a late and ineffective substitution as Paraguay struck the winner with the last kick of the game through defender Aldo Paniagua. Three attacking midfielders played behind Talaat – Afroto, Ahmed Magdi and Hossam Arafat. However, Afroto was the only lively performer among the trio.
Afroto disappointed at display Arafat, as a natural central midfielder, failed to accomplish his primary offensive duties because he played out of position, wasting several clear-cut chances that could have sealed a comfortable victory for Egypt - another sign of Soukup's cautiousness. "The midfielders failed to mount pressure to exploit any defensive blunders from Paraguay," Ismaili great and Nile Sports analyst Ali Abou-Greisha commented. The sluggish moves and many mis-placed passes of Egypt's two holding midfielders, Mahmoud Toba and Shehab Mohamed, did the team no favors while full-backs Islam Ramadan and Ali Mohamed once again failed to whip in any good crosses. Poor Fitness Egypt players ran out of fuel in the latter stages of the game to make it easy for Paraguay to defend in numbers and stop any threats. Exhaustion took its toll on the young players to prevent them from breaking down a resolute defense. In the last ten minutes, several players fell to the ground due to cramps after finding it difficult to keep pace with their Paraguayan counterparts. "It seemed that Paraguay were the team who enjoyed the numerical advantage, this is mainly down to the poor fitness level of Egypt players," Abou-Greisha said. Soukup, who said after the game he did know why his side played badly, should improve the weak aspects of Egypt's game if they are to avoid a shocking first-round exit. The 2001 semi-finalists take on Italy in their last Group A encounter on Thursday. "I think we have a fine chance of reaching the next round and I am confident we can beat Italy to go directly to the knockouts," Soukup told the post-match press conference.
