Egypt hosts Ghana tomorrow (Friday)

Kicking off their New Year's preparations for the upcoming Mali 2002 African Cup of Nations, El Gohary has chosen the mighty Black Stars of Ghana to be his first competition in 2002. The teams will clash on Friday, January 4th in Ismailia stadium at 3:00 pm, Cairo time.

The Pharaohs will be under a lot of pressure in their first home freindly since last March, and will be looking to erase the fumbling image they displayed in Doha, Qatar, last week when they earned a marginal 2-2 draw. Four main players will be missing out on Friday's clash as Mohammed Emara and Yasser Radawan were called back to their Bundesliga side, while Hani Said and Mohammed El Yamani also returend to their respective Italian and Belgian teams. This tetra-pack will miss out on both the Ghana friendly on Friday, and Mali on Sunday.

Whether they will catch up with the Nigeira freindly on Tuesday the 8th of January reamins to be seen, as all four players are scheduled to return from their European clubs on the eve of the game. Tuesday also happens to be the final date to hand in the African Cup of Nations roster, and El Gohary will have a tough time evaluating these four players, as neither Radwan or El Yamani got any action in the Qatari friendly, whist Emara and Said played the whole 90 minutes.

Once again, we are humbled by the tough choices facing our national team head coach, Mahmoud El Gohary who has decided on taking 4 tough preperatory games in a single week, pushing the players to just below their maximum fitness levels. All we can do now, is not judge the team by the results they attain in their scheduled friendlies, but support them till the end of their ACN 2002 campaign.