Home to some of African football’s most storied club sides, seven-time AFCON winners and the first nation from the continent to feature at a ; there is little doubt over Egypt’s football pedigree.
Where the questions do arise, is as to why the African giants have struggled to parlay continental dominance into global success.
Following that debut way back in 1934, Egypt has watched on as Algeria and Nigeria reached the last 16, Senegal, Ghana and Cameroon the quarters and then as Morocco stormed all the way to semis at Qatar 2022.
Remarkably, during that same span of time, the Pharaohs only qualified for another two tournaments, at Italy 1990 and Russia 2018, and are yet to win a World Cup match.
Having arrived in North America with a squad featuring stars Mohamad Salah and Omar Marmoush and starlet Hamza Abdelkarim, hopes were high that this could be the tournament to shift the under-performing narrative.
An opening 1-1 draw against Belgium offered positivity but the dropped points make getting a positive result in their next fixture, against New Zealand on Sunday, imperative, as head coach Hossam Hassan explained pre-match.
“Coming into this tournament, our fourth World Cup, the target was to advance to the next round. We drew first so now we need to secure full points from this match in order to bring joy to the Egyptian people.
“We feel that we are representing not just Egyptian people and Egyptian football but also African football and now we hope to perform in a manner that will help us qualify and make sure we get our first World Cup win.”
One of his nation’s long-serving and most distinguished players, the former forward took the Egypt reins in February 2024 where his first match in charge of the side was against the nation that he now meets again, New Zealand.
On that occasion, Egypt won 1-0 in Cairo and, having continued to track the All Whites’ fortunes, Hassan is fully aware of the threat they pose, especially as they are also targeting a maiden tournament win.
“New Zealand is very strong side and I respect them really greatly. We know that this is going to be one of our most important matches at the tournament because they want to get a first win, as do we.
“As I’ve said repeatedly, any team that reaches this global level is a strong team and must be respected. So, we share the same aspirations as them but now we must perform as we did in the first match with Belgium, in order to get a positive result.”
Carrying the hopes of 120 million fans that are desperate for success is one of the challenges that the 59-year-old Cairo native faces. Another is the constant scrutiny that comes with having a player in his ranks in Salah, who is regarded as among the finest of his generation.
Having shifted his captain into an unfamiliar role, as the No10 in his 4-2-3-1 set-up, and then substituted him with a quarter of an hour remaining in their opener, questions were once again raised as to how best deploy one of African football’s all-time greats.
They are questions, you sense, that the eternally polite Hassan may perhaps be tiring of answering as he looks to focus on the collective ahead of clash that could re-shape Egyptian football.
“Of course, Mohamed Salah is important but I have 26 important players here and they are all equally important. The players, especially the younger ones, take confidence from Salah but I trust all our players blindly and we need to make sure that we rely on each equally.
“From the outset, when I took on this job, I said that I had a dream. That was to make sure that we took right decisions technically and tactically, to live up to the expectations that all Egyptian people have of us.”
Sources: FIFA Official
