Egypt are hoping to arrange more friendly games after playing out a 1-1 draw with Oman in Muscat on Wednesday, the team’s technical staff spokesman said.
Pharaohs manager Bob Bradley is struggling to keep his players fit due to an enforced football suspension, which has been in place since February’s infamous Port Said disaster.
“Bradley will sit down with Egyptian Football Association officials to ask for more friendly games,” goalkeeping coach Zaki Abdel-Fattah, who acts as the American boss’ spokesman, was quoted as saying by Al-Ahram’s Arabic sports website.
New Sports Minister El-Amry Farouk has recently held talks with Interior Minister Ahmed Gamal El-Din to discuss the possibility of starting the Egyptian Premier League next month but the plan shows no signs of fruition.
The interior ministry has insisted more than once it will not secure any games unless ten safety requirements are met by the cash-strapped Egyptian clubs.
“The national team is suffering because of the ongoing football stoppage, and that worries Bradley because he wants to fully prepare the team before it resumes the World Cup qualifiers,” Abdel-Fattah added.
Egypt will not play a competitive game until next year when they face Zimbabwe in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers. They are on top of Group G with six points from two games after beating Mozambique and Guinea.
The seven-time African champions, who have not played at the World Cup since 1990 and unexpectedly failed to qualify for the 2012 and 2013 African Nations Cups, are scheduled to play Saudi Arabia in a friendly game in London next month.
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