Making mincemeat of Mauritius
Egypt rekindled hopes of qualifying for the African Nations Cup after pummelling a group opponent
A well-composed Egyptian national football team silenced its critics -- at least for one match -- after manhandling Mauritius 7-0 to move a step closer to the finals of the African Nations Cup. Eric Asomugha reports on the country's current standing
Before more than 35,000 spectators in Port Said, goals from Tarek El-Sayed, Gamal Hamza, Hazem Emam and a brace by Ahmed "Mido" Hossam and Ahmed Hassan was all Egypt needed to move to the top of Group 10 in an elimination series. Of Madagascar, Mauritius and Egypt, one will qualify for Tunisia in 2004 in the African Nations Cup finals.
Egypt, now sharing six points with Madagascar, moved to the top of the group after Sunday's match on goals difference -- plus seven to Madagascar's plus two.
Egypt has one more match, against Madagascar in Egypt on 20 June. Madagascar will then play Mauritius in Madagascar on 12 July to round out the schedule.
The likely scenario is that Egypt and Madagascar will finish with nine points, the winner to be decided on goal difference. Which is why Egypt piled on the pressure and the goals on Sunday.
Not willing to take chances, beleaguered coach Mohsen Saleh recalled veteran keeper Nader El-Sayed to secure the post, while opting for an all-out attacking formula to give Egypt the much needed goals that may eventually decide the group winner.
Egypt set the pace for dominance in the first half with El-Sayed virtually on holiday. The pressure resulted in a penalty in the seventh minute when Mauritius Morgan hacked down Mohamed Barakat in the box. Hossam scored the penalty for Egypt's first goal.
In the 18th minute, Tarek El-Sayed collected a pass from Tamer Abdel-Hamid, which originated from Hadi Khashaba inside the box to score the second goal.
Mauritius made its first real move in the 26th minute, which was denied by the crossbar before a clearance. Earlier, a similar move earned it a corner that was easily cleared by the defence.
Before the break, Mido headed in a well-timed third goal and missed two more opportunities.
Mauritius seemed determined at the beginning of second half to make the score respectable but quickly lost possession of the ball and a replay of the first half was witnessed as Egypt missed a series of clear scoring chances despite adding four more goals in the half.
In the 53rd minute, Hamza finally got a chance to make amends for his misses, heading in a fine cross from Hassan who together with Emam played an instrumental role in the match.
Six minutes later, Hamza ran down the left flank but on losing position to score himself, he found an unmarked Emam rushing in from the right. The dribbling wizard wasted no time in netting the fifth goal.
Within two minutes after the goal, Mauritius launched a dangerous counterattack, forcing El-Sayed to run out off his line to make his best save of the night.
Still searching for more goals, Saleh made changes to strengthen the attack. Abdel-Halim Ali replaced an unfit Hossam, Khalid Bibo for Hamza and Sayed Moawad for Tarek El-Sayed.
The provider and distributor, Hassan also registered his name on the score sheet in the 72nd minute and one more in injury time to give Egypt the win and a ton of goals that will surely help in crunch time.
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 12 - 18 June 2003 (Issue No. 642)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/642/sp1.htm