Egypt at full-strength in South Africa

Hatem Maher , Tuesday 22 Mar 2011

Egypt’s squad is complete and in training ahead of Saturday’s anticipated African Cup of Nations qualifier against South Africa

Egypt training

A complete Egypt squad held a training session in South Africa on Tuesday to prepare for Saturday's crucial clash against the Bafana Bafana.

Foreign-based trio Ahmed Elmohamady of Sunderland, Borussia Dortmund’s Mohamed Zidan and Hilal striker Ahmed Aly linked up with their national teammates in the early hours of Tuesday.

Zamalek quartet Abdel-Wahed El-Sayed, Mahmoud Fathallah, Mahmoud ‘Shikabala’ Abdel-Razek and Ibrahim Salah have also joined up with the Pharaohs following their stunning 4-2 defeat by Tunisian side Club Africain in the CAF Champions League.

Egypt coach Hassan Shehata will be looking to make the most of the four days remaining before the team take on South Africa, who seem more suited to the challenge due to political instability in Egypt which forced a halt in football activities for more than two months.

The seven-time African champions need to beat South Africa away from home to boost their chances of reaching next year’s Nations Cup finals in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

Egypt lies at the bottom of Group G with one point after making a disappointing start to their qualifying campaign, three points behind leaders South Africa.

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