In preparation to play Egypt in their first of two Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, Mauritania held a training session in Cairo on Thursday.
The “Lions of Chinguetti,” led by Amir Abdou, will play “The Pharaohs” in Cairo on Friday before traveling back to Nouakchott for the second game the following Tuesday.
While they defeated Botswana 1-0 in September, Mauritania’s performance in Group C has been inconsistent; they later lost 2-0 to Cape Verde on the road.
In contrast, the Pharaohs have had a great start to their Group C campaign, having defeated Botswana 4-0 and Cape Verde 3-0 in their opening two games.
They have also won all three of their prior meetings with Mauritania, maintaining a perfect record against them.
The Egypt midfielder Mahmoud Trezeuget said, “God always helps us and makes things go in our favor. The Mauritanian team is a very excellent team, and we always respect whoever comes to play against us. Our generation has always made an effort to give it their all, and we will continue to do so until we achieve both our own and the Egyptian people’s goals.”
Egypt has a perfect record against Mauritania in their last three meetings, thus they should win both of the next games.
Despite this, commentators and former internationals have criticized Egypt’s head coach Hossam Hassan for his player choices and the team’s underwhelming performances this season.
Hassan responded to his critics on Thursday while preparing for two consecutive Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Mauritania in the coming five days.
“There has been constant criticism over the last seven months on the unworthiness of our opponents. A few elderly TV hosts, in their 60s and 70s, have asserted that they could form a squad and make it to the World Cup… It has been suggested by some former international players that the forthcoming matches are meaningless and shouldn’t be played. I want to make it clear that, in every away game, even if I can’t win, I’ll make sure I don’t lose,” he declared.
Egypt won a close match against New Zealand in March and lost a home friendly against Croatia 4-2.
Later in June, they drew 1-1 away to Guinea-Bissau and triumphed 2-1 over Burkina Faso in World Cup qualifying matches.
Egypt hasn’t lost in their last three clashes with Mauritania, making them the strong favourites for both upcoming games.
(Africanews)
