Egypt kept their slim chance of qualifying for the World Cup after clinching a 1-0 win at Zambia on Saturday, although their performance was way below-par. The Pharaohs' coherence was minimal most of the time, while Zambia had several scoring opportunities but failed to convert them. In general, the playing rhythm was abysmally affected by the poor pitch. FilGoal assessed Egypt's players on a scale of 1 to 10. Essam Al-Hadari (9): The experienced goalie maintained a clean sheet and prevented Zambia from scoring on many occasions. He was definitely the man of the match. Hani Saied (6.5): The Zamalek man was relatively in good form, in comparison with his fellow defenders. He was deployed as a sweeper and was a nuisance for the hosts' frontmen. Wael Gomaa (5.5): He made several blunders that could have cost the African champions dearly, even though the veteran defender put in a convincing display. Ahmed Saied 'Ouka' (4): The inexperienced defender's incompetency helped Zambia pile up pressure from the left flank, and made a good number of mistakes while marking Zambia's strikers. Mohamed Barakat (5.5): The Ahli star wasn't quite influential as a right winger and failed to feed the frontline properly till he was taken off in the second half, after he was switched to midfield. Ahmed Fathi (6): During the first half Fathi played as a defensive midfielder, and after the break he was deployed on the right flank. He didn't have the best of games, but was resilient as usual.
Abd-Rbou Hosni Abd-Rabou (7.5): His presence wasn't quite felt till he hit the winner with a magnificent shot, to give Hassan Shehata's all three points. Sayed Moawad (7): The Ahli left winger supported Egypt's attack throughout the game at the expense of his defensive duties. His deft assist enabled Abd-Rabou to hit the winner. Ahmed Hassan (7): The Egypt skipper was energetic in midfield and stole the ball from the opposition players more than once, his relentlessness prompted Shehata to keep him on the pitch for the whole 90 minutes . Mohamed Abou-Treika (7): The talisman was one of the best among Egypt's midfielders. He dished out several through passes and was by far consistent during the match. Amr Zaki (6.5): The robust marksman was combative as usual, but couldn't carve out scoring chances for himself. However, he was alerting to the Zambia as a lone striker. Substitutes: Ahmed Raouf (6.5): He came on as a substitute instead of Barakat after the interval, and partly bolstered the frontline until Abd-Rabou hit the winner. Ahmed Eid (5): In the second half, Zaki made way for Eid who wasn't given enough time to prove his worth. Sherif Abdul-Fadil (5): The Ahli defender replaced the off-form Ouka late in the second half, and wasn't really tested.
