CAIRO – Egypt coach Mahmoud Gaber has outlined what his team needs to do when they face Senegal on Saturday at 7:00pm Cairo Local Time. in their last game of the U-20 Africa Cup of Nations group stages.
The Young Pharaohs drew their first match 1-1 against Mozambique in Cairo before going down 1-0 to record champions Nigeria.
The Teranga Lions have already booked their place in the quarter-finals of the tournament following their back to back wins over Nigeria and Mozambique.
“We have only one solution, which is to win,” Gaber told news conference. “We do not think about anything in the past, but all our focus is on tomorrow’s match and achieving victory in it.”
“We prepared a lot for the match, and we will fight for victory and to qualify. The players did their utmost, and God willing, we will achieve victory in tomorrow’s match.”
The hosts will have to beat Senegal to confirm their place in the last eight of the U-20 Africa Cup of Nations and the Egyptian trainer expects a tough contest against Malick Daf’s Cubs.
“The match will be big and difficult,” Gaber hinted. “We succeeded in creating many chances in the Mozambique match, and we had more than one chance in the Nigeria match.”
Gaber rued his team’s missed opportunities against Mozambique and Nigeria in their previous two matches.
“Nigeria created only one chance and succeeded in scoring a goal from it,” Mahmoud said.
“Not scoring goals is not good, but the situation would have been worse if you don’t create any chances, we just need luck and, God willing, we will win and qualify.”
Midfielder Mohamed Karim says his teammates are determined to fight and secure victory against the impressive Teranga Lions of Senegal in front of their home faithful.
“We sat with each other and pledged to win,” Karim said. “We have no solution but to win and we will fight to achieve it.
“Of course we received negative comments, but we turned them into positive motives to increase our enthusiasm.”
Saturday’s fixtures
19:00 Egypt vs Senegal
19:00 Mozambique vs Nigeria
