No new faces from domestic league suitable for Pharaohs; 'the best is yet to come': Egypt Coach
Ahmed Abd El Rasoul, , Tuesday 17 Dec 2019
El-Badry faced criticism due to a disappointing start of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign after the Pharoahs drew in two matches against Kenya and Comoros respectively


Egypt's coach Hossam El-Badry promised Egyptians better results for the Pharaohs in the future, saying that he has not yet found new faces in the Egyptian Premier League worthy of joining the national team.

"The best is yet to come for the national team since we will have larger pool to choose from, including players from the Olympic team," El-Badry told Al-Hadath El-Youm TV channel on Tuesday.

"We have faced many difficulties recently due to a time crunch and we also missed many players due to injury, such as Mohamed Salah, Hamdy Fathy, Marwan Mohsen and Ahmed Kouka," he added.

Since El-Badry's appointment in September, Egypt won two friendly matches in preparations for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, beating Botswana 1-0 in October before claiming a late 1-0 win over Liberia in early November.

However, El-Badry faced criticism due to a disappointing start of the qualifying campaign after the Pharoahs drew in two matches against Kenya and Comoros on 14 and 18 November respectively.

El-Badry had defended himself after the draws, assuring that Egypt will be among the qualifiing teams for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in the end.

"The qualifiers' race is still a long one and we have not lost matches. Playing in Comoros was very difficult due to both the bad weather and pitch," the coach said today.

"We will work hard to achieve our targets and I asked the football association to hold two training camps before the camp that is scheduled in March.

"The technical staff will choose from the players who shined with the Olympic team recently in the U-23 African Nations Cup but it will be a limited number."

"Despite its excitement this season, I didn't find new faces in the Egyptian Premier League that are worthy of joining the national team," he concluded.

Happy with Salah's perfromance

Egypt's key star Mohamed Salah was absent due to injury during the two 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, but he recently recovered and returned to shine with Liverpool, netting three goals in the club's three last matches.

"I am happy that Salah is restroing his form; his absence negatively affected the national team in the last period," the coach said

Egypt are now second in their Group G standings with two points, while Comoros lead the group with four points, after they defeated Togo 1-0 in the first round.

El-Badry, the former Ahly player and coach, is the first Egyptian manager in the Pharaohs hot seat in four years following Argentinean tactician Hector Cuper (2015-2018) and Javier Aguirre (2018-2019).

Under the guidance of El-Badry, Egypt is competing both in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

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