Former United States coach Bob Bradley (Photo: AP)
American coach Bob Bradley arrived in Cairo on Wednesday to lead the Egyptian national team in their bid to qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
“Egyptians love the game. They are very proud people and therefore take a lot of pride in the national team,” Bradley told the Washington Post on Wednesday.
“The goal is to qualify for the World Cup. They’ve had success in the African Nations Cup [as the three-time defending champions]. They’ve accomplished a lot, but they haven’t gone to the World Cup since 1990. This is the focus, this is the dream.”
The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) chose the former United States manager from a long list of candidates, including Colombian Fancisco Maturana, Serbian Zoran Filipović, Frenchman Hervé Renard and Portuguese Nelo Vingada, to succeed the country’s most successful coach Hassan Shehata.
Bradley will be paid €360,000 per year.
EFA chairman Samir Zaher will meet with board members Magdy Abdel Ghany, Hazem El-Hawary, Safy El-Dien Bassiouny and Magy El-Halawany before they officially announce the technical staff.
Youth team coach, Dia’a El-Sayed is expected to take the general trainer post while Bradley’s preferred goalkeeping coach, Zaki Abdel-Fattah, is not confirmed yet due to his financial demands.
Bradley will watch the Olympic squad, under the helm of Hany Ramzy, who will represent the Pharaohs in the 2012 African Cup of Nations qualifier against Niger next Saturday before he takes a close look at the new-look Zamalek, led by Shehata, in the Egypt Cup final against ENPPI on Tuesday.
The former Chicago Fire and the New York/New Jersey MetroStars (now known as the New York Red Bulls) manager, Bradley will lead the team for the first time in a friendly against Brazil in Qatar on 14 November.
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