Sometimes losing in a non-competitive match can bear more fruits than winning, and Egypt certainly have a lot to gain from Wednesday's 3-1 defeat at Wembley. After overwhelming Africa in the past few years, Egypt needed to go to the next level and this can only be achieved if the players learnt how to deal with bigger challenges. Before the Hassan Shehata era, Egypt had hardly played against a high-profile nation in either a friendly or competitive match. But since 2005, we've seen encounters against Portugal, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Italy and England. Apart from the shock Italy victory last year, results against big guns have mainly been disappointing, yet the level of performance demonstrated Egypt's ability punch above their weight at times, but now is the time to set higher ambitions. Three elements have to be taken into consideration when analyzing the reasons of any defeat; mental, tactical or physical attributes. Mental Strength In my opinion, the defeat at Wembley was largely down to a lack of concentration that allowed England to punish their opponents after the break. In the first half, Egypt started with a conservative style with the players giving the star-studded England line-up the respect they deserve. The African champions then started to gain confidence gradually with a fine pass-to-feet display, before hitting the English on the counter. After the incredible first-half display, Egypt players thought they had already beaten England by keeping the likes of Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard at bay. But they didn't pay much attention to the fact that they're facing a ruthless world-class opposition. "The performance was awful starting from the 50th minute. Some players lost concentration and started to play individually," Shehata said after the game.
"I think a match against England at Wembley can be the start of a new phase for us" - Hassan Shehata. Tactical Fault The second reason that might have had an impact on the game was the Egypt manager's contribution, which normally produces brilliant results, but not this time. After Peter Crouch scored the equalizer for England, Egypt still had a chance to come out with their heads up, as a 1-1 draw at Wembley is anything but disappointing even after the one-goal advantage. But I think that Shehata's attempts to restore the lead backfired on his team, as the substitutions from the 'Master' proved uncharacteristically ineffectual. At the time when Egypt needed to retain possession and keep their cool, Shehata was clearly going for glory when he brought on Geddo for Ahmed Hassan in the 64th minute to join Mohamed Zidan and Amr Zaki upfront. However, Egypt lost the presence of the skipper in midfield, and playing with three men upfront against a team of England's caliber proved costly. Physical Aspect Finally comes the physical aspect which was highlighted by Egypt assistant coach Shawki Gharib in a rather equivocal post-match comment. "We ran a lot in the first-half and were able to snatch the opener. Physically, we couldn't keep up with England in the second-half," he said. I think it would be an unrealistic claim to put the difference between England and Egypt down to the level of fitness. Simply because Egypt outclassed every African powerhouse in recent years, including the likes of Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Nigeria; teams who principally rely on the athleticism of their players. So fitness has never been a problem for Shehata's team who were involved in much tougher challenges, most recently the 3-1 CAN 2010 victory over Cameroon, where Egypt scored twice in extra-time. The bottom line is; Egypt learnt how they can beat a team like England in the first half, now they can analyze why they had lost after the break.
