Egypt's coach Javier Aguirre (L) attends a press conference at the Cairo International stadium in the capital, on June 29, 2019, on the eve of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) Group A football match between Uganda and Egypt AFP
Egyptian national team coach Javier Aguirre has confirmed that the Pharaohs will fight to book a place in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinals when they face South Africa in the tournament's knockout stage on Saturday.
Egypt will face South Africa in the last round of 16 mathc at the Africa Cup of Nations on Saturday at Cairo Stadium, after qualifying as Group A winners with a maximum nine points with wins over Zimbabwe, DR Congo and Uganda.
"Our opponents are one of the most organized teams and you can see they have talented players, especially in the defence but the game should be finished with only one winner. We will fight to reach the last eight stage since we also prepare our players," Aguirre told the pre-game's press conference on Friday.
"We are ready for the game physically as the team's performance has improved eahc game we play,"
"We have no physical problems against South Africa," the Egypt's national team coach added.
"Pressure in football is normal but Egypt have more pressure since they are the hosts of the tournament. We should achieve the title and we are working to do it,"
"Every day we train on our penalty shots during daily training,"
"Egypt national team have no problems in the frontline, we scored five goals in three matches, which s good in football but we can't win with five goals every game," Aguirre said.
Egypt's last competitive game against South Africa were in the 2012 Nations Cup qualifiers, with the Bafana Bafana defeating them 1-0 at home before holding them to a 0-0 draw away.
Egypt won the 1998 Nations Cup in Burkina Faso after beating South Africa 2-0 in the final.
(For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)
Short link: