Pharaohs suffer big blow ahead of Zim tie

Sport
Egypt has suffered what could be a big blow after their captain and goalkeeper Abdel-Wahed El-Sayed was ruled out of this afternoon’s World Cup qualifier

Egypt has suffered what could be a big blow after their captain and goalkeeper Abdel-Wahed El-Sayed was ruled out of this afternoon’s World Cup qualifier against Zimbabwe at the National Sports Stadium.

REPORT BY MICHAEL MADYIRA

El-Sayed also misses the Mozambique match next week. This afternoon’s tie will see Klaus-Dieter Pagels plunging into his first competitive home assignment as Warriors coach.

The Warriors have slim chances of qualifying for Brazil 2014, but beating the record seven-time African Champions would be a famous victory.

Pagels faces what appears to be a Herculean task to equal the December 20 1992 feat by his late German compatriot Reinhard Fabisch, who led the Warriors to a famous 2-1 win, ironically in a World Cup qualifier at the same venue.

Interestingly, one of the stars of that memorable afternoon was Pagels’ assistant, Peter Ndlovu, who scored five minutes before halftime, before Agent Sawu added another one four minutes after the restart, while Ahmed Abdou Abdel-Aziz later reduced arrears for Egypt.

This was Egypt’s first and last defeat to Zimbabwe in 11 meetings that have yielded six losses for the latter and four draws.

Despite statistics reading in favour of Egypt, Pagels can draw confide-nce in the fact that Egypt have never won in their three visits to Zimbabwe, with the other two being similar 1-1 score lines.

But now in his second competitive match at the helm, he faces a Pharaohs side so desperate for a third appearance at the quadrennial global football showcase and the first since Italy 1990.

Placed at the basement of Group G with just a point, Zimbabwe’s chances for the World Cup are slim in a group in which Egypt tops with nine points, while second-placed Guinea are five behind and Mozambique have two.

Mathematically, the Warriors are still in the race for Brazil 2014, but with no control over their destiny.

Victory in their remaining three games would see the Warriors finish this stage with 10 points and would then have to pray that Egypt lose all their outstanding matches, including a home date with Guinea.

Zimbabwe would also be hoping that Guinea lose to Mozambique at home and beat Bob Bradley-coached Egypt away.

But that is a hard equation for Pagels, as Egypt need just a point from three games to cement a place in the final round of qualification.

Enjoying a 100% record in three games, including a convincing away 3-2 win over Guinea, the North Africans are favourites to win this afternoon.

While Pagels is not concerned about World Cup qualification, he remains hard-pressed to claim victory, which he says is essential to instill confidence in his youthful squad.

“That is now out of question [qualification]. My focus is building a side for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations,” said Pagels.

“If we win our remaining three matches, it would be a big advantage for us. The players would then start believing in themselves that we can beat any team. It is possible to beat Egypt and that much I realised in the first leg we played in Alexandria. We are working hard to win on Sunday.”

Pagels’ hope is drawn from the reverse fixture played in March when Egypt escaped home humiliation courtesy of a last-gasp Mohamed Abou-Treika penalty that stole victory from them after Knowledge Musona had cancelled Hosny Abd Rabo’s lead.

Musona’s beautifully-dispatched strike is Zimbabwe’s only goal in this campaign and the 22-year-old has on many occasions proved that he holds the key to the country’s victory.

But the Hoffenheim forward refuses to consider himself the backbone of the team despite his usual stellar shows in Warriors colours.

“It is not about me but the team as a whole. We play as a team and everyone has a job to do to spur the team forward.

We just try to bring the best out of each other and at the end of the day it would be a victory for the whole nation and not a few individuals,” said Musona.

Bradley appears terrified by Musona who sat out Friday training sessions but is fit for today’s clash.

“I know of Musona and he plays in the very competitive German league. He is a good player, but we will always find ways to neutralise his threat,” said Egypt’s coach.

“We are not under any pressure. I know that we were once beaten in Zimbabwe 21 years ago but that does not count anymore. That was a different era and different teams. It is nothing important.”