Egypt’s new coach Hector Cuper admitted he knows little about Egyptian football but said he intends to inject new blood into the team when the Premier League resumes at the end of this month.
The veteran Argentinean boss held his first news conference since taking over at the Pharaohs earlier this month as the team prepare for a friendly game against Equatorial Guinea in Morocco on 28 March.
“I still don’t know much about the players I selected in the squad but I’m following and watching them, and the national team’s door is still open for any new faces,” the 59-year-old coach said at the team’s base on the outskirts of Cairo.
“I’m waiting for the league’s resumption to watch all players, and you will probably see some players who will be selected for the first time.”
The premier domestic competition was suspended following a Cairo football disaster on 8 February that left 20 Zamalek supporters dead. The fans died of stampede after being tear-gassed by security forces, who sought to prevent them from attending a match against ENPPI at the army-owned Air Defence Stadium.
The latest disaster, which came almost three years following Egypt’s worst-ever football tragedy that left over 70 Ahly fans dead in coastal city Port Said, revived a long-running debate about security measures in Egyptian football.
There were doubts over the possibility of resuming the league, which was cancelled twice in the last three seasons, but the Egyptian government agreed to kick-start the competition after lengthy negotiations with the country’s football association, albeit behind closed doors.
Faltering side
Cuper, who succeeded Shawky Gharib following Egypt’s failure to reach this year’s African Cup of Nations, is tasked with turning around the fortunes of a faltering side who have been on a downward slide since a popular uprising in 2011 sparked political turmoil.
His first mission will be qualifying the record seven-time winners for the 2017 Nations Cup finals after three straight failures to reach the biennial tournament, a stunning reverse by Egypt’s standards.
“My preferred strategies will be 4-3-3 and 4-5-1. I can’t promise to win any titles but I can promise to do my best to build a team that can compete for trophies,” added Cuper, under whom Spanish side Valencia reached the UEFA Champions League final in 2000 and 2001.
The 2017 Nations Cup qualifiers are set to start in June, followed by the 2018 World Cup qualifiers in October.
Source: Ahram Online
