New coach Bradley excited by Egypt challenge and hopes to end World Cup jinx
Karim Farouk, Sunday 25 Sep 2011
New Egypt coach, Bob Bradley, wants to realise the Pharaohs’ dream of reaching the World Cup 2014 and talks of his possible strategies


“I accepted the job because of Egyptian's passion for football. After such a glorious, successful era winning three Cup of Nations I know I’ll have a tough job. It is a challenging and exciting opportunity for me and I hope to realise the Egyptian dream of reaching the World Cup 2014 for the first time in 1990,” Bradley was quoted as saying on a TV programme.

The American tactician inked a three-year deal on Saturday with the mission of rebuilding the Pharaohs squad after their recent failure in the 2012 African Cup of Nations qualifiers.

“Egypt are in transition now, which is normal after a peak. It will be a big part of the job in the next period to help the big players perform as well as to find the best young players and try to push them over into the team.

“We have to have a plan for the big project of reaching the World Cup 2014. We can inject new blood, but also strategise for the upcoming fixtures with the current, capable players to achieve our goals. We have to find the right balance,” Bradley added.

The 53-year-old has revealed his delight with Egypt's potential and especially the U-20 team that won the bronze medal in the African U-20 Championship 2011 and reached the quarter finals of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia last summer.

“There were some excellent talents on the team and they did a good job in Colombia. But we have to be careful with these young players and get the timing right because it is a big jump to move from the U-20 to the senior squad.

On his ideas for the Egyptian National team and the perception of his physical game he said:

“It is not all about fitness, I believe we have to find the good combination between the technical, tactical and fitness areas. I think we had a good formula in the US team. I have to work with the Egyptian players to see the areas of work and also try to find the good formula.

“I know that most of the Egyptian teams adopt a 3-5-2 formation but I may opt to play with a back four. I haven’t made up my mind yet because I need to work with the players to decide what’s best for the team,” he concluded.

The former US coach will watch Egypt’s next game in the African qualifiers against Niger on 8 October from the stands and will officially start work just after.

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