Egypt picks 27 for AFCON battle with Chad

African Nations Cup record winner, Egypt, has announced a team of 27 players for a training camp ahead of their second group game against Chad on September 6.

Egypt, Nigeria, Tanzania and Chad are in the same group, which offers only the winners of the groups direct passage to Gabon 2017. The two best second-placed teams would join the train to Gabon.

The Pharaohs, now under Argentine, Hector Cuper, has not qualified for the competition since they won the title in Angola 2010. And to correct the ‘anomaly,’ Cuper has picked some of the best performers from within and outside the Egyptian league for the training camp, scheduled to begin this week.

Cuper’s team is predictably dominated by players from newly-crowned Egyptian Premier League champions, Zamalek, and fellow Cairo giants Al Ahly. However, the Whites’ skillful duo Ayman Hefny and Mostafa Fathy were both left out due to injuries.

The squad also included seven players plying their trade overseas.

The Pharaohs top the group over Nigeria on goal difference after beating Tanzania in their first qualifier.

In the squad are goalkeepers, Sherif Ekrami (Ahly), Ahmed El-Shenawy (Zamalek), Ali Lotfy (ENPPI) and Mahdy Soliman (Smouha).

The vie for positions in defence are Saad Samir, Hussein El Sayed (Ahly), Ali Gabr, Omar Gaber, Hazem Emam, Hamada Tolba (Zamalek), Ahmed Hegazy (Fiorentina-Italy), Mohamed Abdel-Shafy (Ahly-Saudi Arabia) and Rami Rabia (Sporting Lisbon-Portugal).

Saleh Gomaa, Ramadan Sbohi and Momen Zakarya of Al Ahly; Ahmed Tawfiq, Ibrahim Salah and Mahmoud Kahraba of Zamalek, as well as Mohamed Elneny (Basel-Swiss) and Mahmoud Trezeguet of Anderlecht-Belgian, will battle for spots in the midfield.

The strikers in the list are Amr Gamal and Mahmoud Zaki (Ahly); Bassem Morsi and Ahmed Hassan Mekki (Zamalek), as well as Mohamed Salah (Roma-Italy) and Ahmed Hassan