Egypt coach, El-Badry, vows to deny Nigeria Olympic ticket

Egypt Under-23 national team coach Hossam El-Badry remains hopeful they will progress to the semifinals of the 2015 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations, despite getting their campaign off with a draw against Algeria in their Group B opener in M’Bour on Sunday.

Zamalek winger Mahmoud ‘Kahraba’ Abdel-Moneam headed home Mohamed Hani’s free-kick to give the young Pharaohs the lead on 54 minutes, but Algeria levelled matters through USM Alger attacking midfielder Zinedine Ferhat 10 minutes later with the Egyptian keeper Mosaad Awad largely to blame.

“Keeper Awad’s error cost the team a goal but such kind of errors are frequent in football,” El-Badry commented after the match.

“We were close to winning the game, especially in the first half, but we failed to capitalise on our goal-scoring chances.

“We didn’t lose the game. There are two matches remaining in the group phase and we are determined to earn positive results in these games to advance into the semis.”

The Egyptians will be looking to seal their first win of the competition when they take on Nigeria in their second Group B outing tomorrow.