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Al-Ahram Weekly 1 - 7 July 1999 Issue No. 436 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 1 - 7 July 1999 Issue No. 436
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Special Interview Travel Living Sports Time Out Chronicles People Cartoons Letters
(photos: Amr Gamal)
Destination Sydney
By Abeer AnwarEgypt inched closer to a spot in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney after a convincing 3-1 win over Mali and a 4-2 aggregate victory in an African football qualifying match. The first leg, held two weeks ago in Mali, had ended in a 1-1 draw. Egypt will now play Tunisia, Côte d'Ivoire and Morocco in home-and-away formats and must finish atop the group to qualify for Sydney. Three African nations in all will reserve a place in next year's Olympics.
Against Mali, Egypt wasted little time in advancing to round two of the preliminaries. Sunday's second-leg encounter in Cairo Stadium saw the host team, made up mostly of up-and-coming juniors, in dominating form from the start. In the 25th minute Ahmed Salah Hosni, now playing in Germany's Stuttgart, opened the scoring. Ibrahim Said and teammate Ayman Abdel-Aziz followed with the second and third goals five minutes apart early in the second half. Mohamed Kourambi, who had threatened Egypt's goal more than once, was finally rewarded for his efforts, scoring a late consolation goal in injury time.
"It was an important and decisive match," team coach Abdel-Aziz Abdel-Shafi said. "The players were under a lot of pressure but they did their best." Abdel-Shafi predicted better concentration from the players in the future now that most high school and university exams are over. He added that the victory would also raise their morale. The win made up somewhat for Egypt's early ouster from the All-African Games at the hands of Eritrea on penalty kicks.
