Egypt eager to beat Ghana to World Cup ticket - Koka

Egypt striker Ahmed Hassan 'Koka' has reiterated the side's desire to beat Ghana to the sole Group E ticket for the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia.

The Pharaohs have set high the ambition of playing at the global showpiece after a 28-year absence, but standing in their way are the Black Stars, Congo and Uganda, who all together make up Group E of the African zone qualifiers.

To back their ambitions, the North Africans came from behind to beat Congo 2-1 in Brazzaville in their first match on Sunday, a result which shoots them into an early lead following Ghana's stalemate with Uganda two days earlier.

"We have more difficult matches ahead of us, there are very strong teams participating in the World Cup and Ghana is certainly one of them,” Koka told Fifa.com.

“We have high hopes and we will try our best to make the dream of all the Egyptians come true and play in the World Cup.

“We are aiming to qualify as we are in good form and have very strong professional players. We have achieved good things but I just don’t know why luck is not on our side.

“As an African team, we have often been at the top. We have won three African Cup of Nations in the last ten years. All of Africans knows that Egypt has a very strong team.

“We should always remember that there is still so much to come. My ambition is to keep progressing and hopefully I’ll go on to play in better teams, and I’ll get what I want for myself, my family and my country."

For their next match, Egypt host Ghana in Alexandria on November 13.