ATLANTA (United States) – Hossam Hassan, head coach of Egypt’s senior national football team, said he is proud of Egypt’s progress to the FIFA World Cup Round of 16. He credited the achievement to the hard work of the players, the coaching staff and everyone involved in Egyptian football. Hassan acknowledged the challenge of facing defending champions Argentina but said his team was ready for the clash.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Hassan said: “Despite the short time between our Round of 32 match against Australia and the Argentina game, we have done our best to prepare the players through recovery sessions and by studying our opponents carefully.
“We are facing a great team like Argentina, which boasts a living legend in Lionel Messi. Nevertheless, we will focus on implementing our usual tactical approach.”
He added: “We respect Argentina’s players, including Messi, but we will not focus on individual players on the opposing team.
“If we did that, we would not be able to continue our work or build on our achievements. The full focus of the technical staff and the players is on making the Egyptian people happy, not on the names of our opponents.”
The Egypt coach acknowledged the difficulty of facing Argentina but emphasised that his team would not be easy opponents for the reigning world champions, affirming that the squad would strive to achieve the goal everyone is working toward.
