Photo Credit: Egyptian Football Association.
Following Egypt’s exit from the TotalEnergies CAF African Nations Championship (CHAN) 2024 qualifiers, head coach Wael Riyad believes that the experience his team went through was very good.
He pointed out that lack of concentration led to two of the goals conceded in the second leg against South Africa, which ended in a 3-1 defeat at the Suez Canal Authority Stadium in Ismailia, Egypt.
The aggregate score over two legs was 4-2 in favor of South Africa, after a 1-1 draw in the first leg.
Speaking to On Sport, as YallaKora reported, Riyad stated: "We must talk about the experience. It was a very good experience. A group of players wore the Egypt national team jersey for the first time."
He added: "Most of the players came from the professionals league (second division), with only a few from the Premier League (Nile League). We had to participate in order to avoid any sanctions against the Egyptian Football Association."
Riyad highlighted the importance of the experience, stating: "It is a very good experience that enriches the players with international expertise. I hope the local national team continues, with its core squad mainly consisting of players from the Professional League (second division)."
About the two games against South Africa, he explained: "In the first leg, we were keen to close the defence and applied the tactics we had trained on, while in the second leg, there was a lack of concentration that resulted in two goals, and in the second half we were able to achieve a draw or reduce the difference."
He concluded by highlighting the strength of South Africa’s squad: "The South African players are from Premier League clubs like SuperSport, Kaizer Chiefs and Sundowns, and they are all international players. I thanked the players after the match. We learned from the mistakes, and the players shape will be different if this team is formed again."
With this result, South Africa advances to the final qualifying round, where they will face Malawi, who eliminated Comoros with a 4-0 aggregate victory in this round.
The two teams will battle over two legs in May, with the winner securing a place in the TotalEnergies CAF African Nations Championship (CHAN) 2024, which will be co-hosted by Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda from August 2 to August 30.
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