Egypt Coach Blames Strikers For Not Killing Off Ghana

Egypt coach, Hassan Shehata has said his team would have finished off Ghana in a friendly on Wednesday but for his strikers, led by Wigan's Amr Zaki, who squandered several begging chances.

The match at the Cairo International Stadium ended in a 2-2 draw but Shehata said Egypt ought to have won it convincingly.

The hosts went ahead in the first half courtesy of a controversial goal by Mohamed Shawky before Stephen Appiah drew Ghana level from the penalty spot early in the second half.

The Black Stars took the lead in the 78th minute through Prince Tagoe only for substitute Emad Meteb to deny Ghana a famous victory very late in the encounter.

"You wouldn't pull off a win if you squandered so many chances. This is football," said Shehata to reporters after the match.

"We were capable of scoring four goals at least, but Amr Zaki, Ahmed Hassan and Mohamed Zidan failed to convert a host of golden chances."

However, Shehata said he was consoled by the fact that the Ghana match was a far better test for his team ahead of next month's World Cup qualifier against Zambia than the game against Kenya in Cairo in January.

"Our previous game against Kenya was not really taken seriously, but against Ghana we performed as we should," said the former Zamalek striker.

"For this reason, I didn't make so many substitutions. It was a full-scale dress rehearsal for our upcoming clash with Zambia in the World Cup qualifying stage."

Ghana also used the game to prepare for the final round of the World Cup qualifying tournament next month.