Egypt's coach Shawky Gharib gestures during their African Nations Cup qualifying soccer match against Tunisia in Cairo September 10, 2014 (Photo: Reuters)
Arafa El-Sayed proved he might be the perfect replacement for injured striker Amr Gamal in Egypt's squad after continuing his impressive run with another hat-trick as Talae El-Geish hammered Maqassa 6-1 in the Egyptian Premier League on Wednesday.
El-Sayed, who joined El-Geish in the close season after failing to establish himself with Cairo giants Zamalek, opened the scoring as early as the third minute after robbing veteran keeper Abdel-Wahed El-Sayed and slotting into an empty net.
He scored his second of the night on 78 minutes and converted a penalty with three minutes remaining for his second successive hat-trick, having scored three goals in El-Geish's 4-2 victory over Masry last week.
El-Sayed was given limited playing time with Zamalek, who offloaded him in the summer as a part of a major squad overhaul.
He will now be the frontrunner to be included in Egypt's squad for next month's crucial African Nations qualifier at home to Senegal following the injury of Ahly's Amr Gamal, who ruptured a cruciate knee ligament that will rule him out of action for at least six months.
El-Sayed took his tally to nine goals in seven league matches as El-Geish moved second in the league table with 13 points from seven games, one short of leaders Haras El-Hodoud who have a game in hand.
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