Egyptian Players (Photo: Ahram)
The door remains wide open for new players to earn an Egypt call-up before the World Cup in June, assistant coach Osama Nabih said on Tuesday.
Egypt boss Hector Cuper named a 28-player squad for a training camp in Switzerland that will see the team face European champions Portugal and Greece on 23 and 27 March respectively.
The Argentinean coach is criticized by some pundits for sticking to his old guard no matter what happens, but he still called up two new players in Ahly defender Ayman Ashraf and Enppi midfielder Mohamed Magdi.
"The door is still open for new players to join Egypt before the World Cup," Nabih told state news agency MENA on Tuesday.
"There are six matches remaining in the domestic league and the technical staff will monitor the players in the Egypt Cup games to make the perfect choice before announcing the final list.
"We could call up new players in May," he added.
Nabih insisted the Pharaohs had no shortage of options in the striker and left-back positions, saying the technical staff had the utmost confidence in the abilities of the players to fill any void.
Regular left-back Mohamed Abdel-Shafi has been struggling for form lately after leaving Saudi giants Ahly Jeddah. His usual back-up, French-based defender Karim Hafez, was snubbed by Cuper for the Switzerland training camp.
Cuper also had to do without a recognized striker for long spells last year after Ahly's Marwan Mohsen suffered a serious knee injury during the Africa Cup of Nations in January 2017.
However, Mohsen's recent return from injury came as a welcome boost for Egypt. He was on target against Gabon's C.F. Monana in the African Champions League and also scored in a domestic league game against Dakhleya to earn a call-up to Egypt's squad.
"There are no problems in our frontline. We have confidence in Marwan Mohsen," Nabih concluded.
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