Egypt played out a goalless friendly draw with a mediocre Georgia side as part of the Pharaohs preparation for next year's World Cup qualifiers. A low-key affair in Tbilisi hardly produced any action even though Egypt were relatively better in terms of goal-threat. Bob Bradley's men were the dominating side in an insipid first half, with Shikabala, Mohamed Salah and Ahmed Temsah leading the attack. Hosni Abd-Rabou captained the team, while Ahmed Al-Shennawi, who replaced Essam Al-Hadari in goal, had little to do over the 90 minutes. Bradley made two half-time substitutions, introducing Amr Zaki and Saleh Gomaa instead of Temsah and Mohamed Al-Nenni respectively. Egypt maintained the upper hand and the best moment of the match came from Abd-Rabou, whose stunning volley rattled the bar nine minutes past the interval. Striker Sherif Ashraf then came off the bench for his Egypt debut after recently helping Jaro secure survival in the Finnish League. But it was Zaki who posed real danger on goal when his curling effort was brilliantly denied by the keeper, before Gomaa – another substitute – dispatched a long-range strike that missed the target by inches.
