Egypt's assistant Coach Hany Ramzy revealed that the Pharoah's are aware their performance during the past few matches has not been good enough to please their supporters, and is promising fans that they will improve their strategy for a better performance in the next round of the current 2019 African Cup of Nations (2019 AFCON).
"We topped our group with nine points, clean sheets, and 3 successive victories. Those are important statistics. We have to look on the bright side, but we won't forget about the negatives," the former coach of Belgium's Lierse said to ON Sport on Tuesday evening.
"Players told me they know that the performance has not been good. This is a good thing as they know that they have more to deliver. We are preparing for a serious stage. This is a big responsability, making the Egyptian people happy, but we'll show everyone we'll be in a different and better shape for the round of 16," added the former Ahly player Ramzy.
The Pharaohs ensured their place at Round of 16 after winning three successive matches over Zimbabwe, DR Congo, and Uganda respectively to qualify as Group A leaders.
The seven-time African champions, Egypt, will face South Africa on Saturday at Cairo's International Stadium.
Ramzy said that he knows the reasons behind the criticism against the national team's performance in the 2019 AFCON.
"Performance must be better. We realize the supporters' emotions, but the collective competitions are always won by results. Balancing between performance and results is difficult, but our players are skilled enough and that was clear in the qualifiers; especially in Tunisia's game," the former Egypt U-23 coach explained.
Fixing mistakes
To continue the AFCON campaign successfully, Egypt's technical staff will work hard to amend some mistakes in the coming days, according to Ramzy.
"The technical staff is trying to fix negatives such as building the attack, leaving long distances between the line, compactness, and controlling midfield through possession. Starting from the knockout stage I'm sure our level will be different," he said.
"Criticism exists all the time in football, but, realistically, I'm happy with the players and the results achieved in the first stage. I know that they have more to offer, as they know well that we've passed the phase of playing for a goal or even a point. They know as well that the mistakes shouldn't be repeated against teams who are technically better," Ramzy concluded.
With Javier Aguirre at the helm, the Egyptians are optimistic about winning the precious title of 2019 AFCON champions for the first time since 2010, the last of their record seven victories.
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