Egypt national soccer team coach Bob Bradley, from the U.S. (Photo: AP)
The technical staff of Egypt’s national team have praised the UAE training camp in which they recently played three friendly games against Nigeria, Mauritania and Iraq.
“The team made excellent use of the out-of-country camp; players have returned to their usual high levels,” Egypt assistant coach Dia’a El-Sayed was quoted as saying on Ahram Sports.
“We are working on finalising the squad, which will be ready when the Olympic players – Mohamed Salah, Mohamed El-Nenni, Mohamed Hegazy and El-Shennawey – join,” he said.
Amid their preparations for the 2013 African Cup of Nations qualifiers and the 2014 World Cup, the Pharaohs beat Nigeria 3-2, Mauritania 3-0 and drew with Iraq 0-0.
While all football activity in the country was suspended after the February Port Said disaster, which left scores dead and hundreds injured following a match between rival teams, security concerns remain about holding home qualifiers in Egypt.
“We prefer to play our home games outside Egypt rather than playing behind closed doors,” the former Egypt youth team manager said.
“It won’t be easy to play in Sudan or the Gulf countries as the weather will be too hot, so I recommend Morocco,” he added.
The seven-time African champions are scheduled to play the Central African Republic in CAN 2013 in June and kick off their Brazil 2014 campaign in the same month, as they have been paired with Guinea, Zimbabwe and Mozambique in Group G.
(For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter: @AO Sports)
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