The draw held on Thursday revealed that the 2019 U-23 AFCON champions will start their qualifiers from the second stage to the tournament that will take place in Morocco in June 2023.

The first leg game will be held away on 21-23 October, and the second leg will be played in Cairo on 28-30 October.

The Young Pharaohs will face the winner of the Sierra Leon and Zambia match in the third stage of the qualifiers if they win in the second stage.

The Egyptian Football Association announced earlier this month that it appointed the Brazilian coach Micale as the new coach. Micale said after the draw that it is not easy to judge the opponents, as they have to analyse them first.

“We will do a thorough technical analysis of the competitors by knowing their strengths and weaknesses before we make judgments, because football does not recognise prejudices,” Micale said in a statement on the EFA's social media pages.

“We must know our competitors. We will deal realistically at every stage, but we must work well to leave an impression on them that we are a strong team with an ambition to defend its dreams.

“I know very well that Egypt is a big name, and the fans only accept being in the ranks of the big teams, and I will do my best with the working group, the fans must know that we are here to accomplish a great task to make them happy and we will work day and night to achieve the dream,” he concluded.

Egypt won the 2019 U-23 AFCON that was held at home and qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where they bid farewell to the tournament after losing 0-1 to Brazil in the quarterfinals.

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