Are you into football? The answer to this question is irrelevant to Egyptians when there’s a match that involves our national football team. Our patriotic spirit just runs through our blood; it’s probably hereditary.
Egypt kicked off its Africa Cup of Nations 2021 campaign last Tuesday with a difficult game against a tough Nigerian side. Unfortunately, the Egyptian national team lost the match to the Super Eagles (0-1).
The Egyptian fans, media and sports critics were furious with the Portuguese manager, Carlos Queiroz. They all questioned Queiroz’s team selection and his decision to play two key players out of position. His bad tactics and poor substitutions disrupted the team’s rhythm and made it impossible for the players to reach their full potential.
We obviously can’t always solely depend on Mo Salah to win games for us single-handedly, that’s just insane, football is a collective sport. It’s true Mo Salah is indeed a magician, but he can’t miraculously make things work on his own especially when the manager messes up big time.
We can’t always keep blaming Mo for not giving his all with the national team like he does with Liverpool when so many factors are not the same. It’s simply not fair to compare apples to oranges.
We really expected to win this first match, and we would’ve if it wasn’t for Queiroz’s bizarre plan to play the best winger in the whole world as a striker. But we still have hope for our national team to win the next two remaining games and collect six points out of nine to be able to qualify to the next round.
We hope Carlos Queiroz gets his act together in our upcoming game against Guinea-Bissau today. Let’s pray he can bring back the energy the Pharaohs are known for.
