Diaa El-Sayed, the Egyptian national team’s assistant coach, said on Monday that coach Bob Bradley is looking for fit players, which is why he excluded several from this week’s camp, including Hossam Ghaly, Ahmed Fathy and Hossam Ashour.

The American coach has called up 25 players for the Pharaohs’ preparation camp, which will start on Tuesday.

The camp includes three friendly games; against Qatar on 28 December in Doha, Ghana on 10 January in Abu Dhabi, and Ivory Coast on 14 January also in Abu Dhabi.

“We were forced to exclude several players from the Qatar trip due to their injuries,” El-Sayed told Ahram Sports on Monday.

“Ghaly will be sidelined for a long time due to a serious knee injury, while Hossam Ashour, Sherif Ekramy and Ahmed Fathy, who are all mildly injured, could join the Pharaohs in Abu Dhabi if they recover fully,” he said.

El-Sayed explained that some Egyptian players who play abroad had been excluded from the camp because the games were not included in the FIFA calendar and their clubs had refused to release them.

Egypt are preparing for their upcoming game against Zimbabwe in the World Cup qualifiers scheduled for next March.      

(For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)