Diaa El-Sayed, coach of the Egyptian under 20s team, may be promoted to the post of general trainer of the first team after his outstanding effort with the team in the 2011 World Cup in Colombia.

El-Sayed carried out a respectful performance against Argentina who defeated Egypt 2-1 in the knock-out stage on Wednesday. The young Pharaohs starred in the group stage as they drew with Brazil 1-1, defeated Panama 1-0 and smashed Austria 4-0.

“Diaa El-Sayed is the second candidate for the post along with former Egypt general trainer, Shawky Gharib,” Egyptian Football Association (EFA) spokesman, Azmy Megahed, told Ahram Online.

Gharib had a lot of experience with the team assisting the country's most successful coach, Hassan Shehata in clinching the African Cup of Nationsthree times (2006, 2008 and 2010). Gharib isalso the only coach of the U-20 team to reach the World Cup finals and win the Bronze in 2001 edition in Argentina.

The EFA is currently discussing possible replacements for Shehata from abroad, choosing between: Colombian Fancisco Maturana, Serbian Zoran Filipović and Bob Bradley of the United States, the latter of whom is closest to the post.

“The EFA board will meet with the three coaches this week to pick one of them,” the EFA announced on Sunday.

“President Samir Zaher, his deputy, Hany Abou-Reida and board member, Hazem El-Hawary are in an on-going meeting to name the national team technical staff as soon as possible,” Megahed confirmed.

The Pharaohs have not met since early June when Shehata stepped down, after the African champions failed to defend their title in the 2012 Gabon and Equatorial Guinea edition.

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