Zebras won�t underestimate fading Egypt
Boitumelo Khutsafalo | Friday October 10, 2014 15:59
Zebras take on the North Africans tonight at the National Stadium in a game that both sides desperately need a victory to keep their qualification ambitions alive. Egypt lost their first match in the group stages of the qualifiers against Senegal and went on to lose to North African rivals, Tunisia in the second game. Zebras also lost their last two matches against the same teams. Both teams go into this match searching for the first point with log leaders, Senegal also locking horns with Tunisia in the other group match.
“I will not be fooled by Egypt’s losses because I know they are a great side. We just came off from the match against Zimbabwe where we used local players. We have been boosted by the arrival of international players like Joel Mogorosi,” Butler said at a media briefing yesterday.
“We know we are playing a very good side but we are in good spirits,” he said.
Zebras will go into the game with a clean bill of health but will miss midfielders, Mogogi Gabonamong and Ofentse Nato. Gabonamong is suspended for this game while Nato was suspended by the coach for failing to turn up for a training session. In the two key midfielders’ absence, Butler is likely to rope in hard tackling Bonolo Phuduhudu and Thato Ogopotse (both from BDF XI) in the middle of the park.
Egyptian coach, Shawky Gharib said he has the support of the Egyptian Football association (FA) despite the fact that they lost the last two games. He said they are in a re-building process and it is always difficult to build and expect results at the same. More than anything, the Egyptians are happy with the warm welcome they received at the hands of the hosts and vowed to return the favour in the second leg. The game kicks off at 6:30 pm.