Egypt national team coach Shawky Gharib has announced a 25-player squad – with only six foreign-based players - for the games against Botswana in the 2015 African Cup of Nations (CAN) qualifiers on 10 and 15 October.

Gharib has recalled Ahly defenders Saad Samir and Mohamed Naguib to bolster his backline that was blamed for the defeats against Senegal and Tunisia at the opening stages of the qualifiers.

The squad will be without longtime Egypt goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary, who plays for Ismaily, and his teammate Hosni Abd-Rabou.

Head coach Shawky Gharib – who won the CAN three times in a row (2006, 2008 and 2010) as an assistant to coach Hassan Shehata – is bidding for a return to the championship in Morocco, after the team missed the last two editions in 2012 and 2013 under coach Hassan Shehata and American manager Bob Bradley respectively.

Gharib has already named six foreign-based players to his squad.

The seven-time African champions are in a must-win situation to revive their chances of reaching the CAN 2015 as they are currently at the bottom of Group G with no points after conceding two straight defeats to Senegal 2-0 and Tunisia 1-0.

Egypt squad:

Goalkeepers: Ahmed El-Shenawy (Zamalek), Sherif Ekramy (Ahly), Amir Abdel-Hamid (Wadi Degla)

 Defenders: Mohamed Naguib, Saad Samir, Sabri Rahil (Ahly), Ali Gabr, Hazem Emam (Zamalek), Shawky El-Saied, (Ismaily), Ahmed Elmohamady (Hull City - England),   

Midfielders: Ayman Hefny, Ibrahim Salah (Zamalek), Hossam Ghaly, Walid Soliman (Ahly), Mohamed Abdel-Shafi (Ahly Jeddah - Saudi Arabia), Ibrahim Abdel-Khaleq (Smouha), Amr Solaya (Ismaily), Ahmed Hamoudy, Mohamed Elneny (Basel - Switzerland), Ahmed Fathi (Umm Salal - Qatar), Saleh Gomaa (Nacional de Madeira – Portugal)

Strikers: Khaled Qamar (Zamalek), Amr Gamal (Ahly), Hani El-Egeizy (Smouha), Mohamed Salah (Chelsea - England)