Is the Plan to Leave Possession?

Two goals from two good plays for Egypt's national team against Nigeria, compared to one goal for the visitors from a set piece and shared mistakes by our goalkeeper and defense. The first goal was scored by Mahmoud Saber from a cross pass by Zizo, and the second goal was a deceptive play by Zizo, who I believe was dribbling past the Nigerian defender, but the ball went to Mostafa Mohamed who then scored the second goal. Possession was with the Eagles in the first half at 75% compared to 25% for our team (in numbers that have significance). However, the Nigerian team lacks offensive solutions, and our defensive system was the reason for that with numerical superiority and narrowing spaces on our field. But should we go to Morocco and play the Africa Cup of Nations matches by giving up possession to our opponents and wait for counterattack opportunities?

Question: Is this the character of the national team, the character of Egyptian teams, and the character of the Egyptian player when playing in the biggest African tournament? Does everyone understand the meaning and reasons behind this?

We previously criticized Cuper and Queiroz for playing with this style against African teams and restricting the freedom of our players. I know that differences in speed, strength, and fitness may force the team to adopt this style, but it ultimately poses a danger to our goal by surrendering possession to the opponent. Meanwhile, when the team had the ball at the start of the second half for seven minutes, it succeeded in scoring the second goal. Undoubtedly, Egyptian players have skills and game intelligence, which will be influential as it was in previous tournaments where the team outperformed all African teams, all professionals. I know the "Triple Generation" was outstanding in all aspects, but the plan to counter African strength through passing and ball exchange, thanks to movement and creating options for the ball holder, succeeded in many matches.

The team achieved this victory without three stars who represent its core structure: Mohamed Salah, Marmoush, and Trezeguet. Is this match a complete experiment in the absence of this trio, considering the full performance we must present in Morocco?

Despite the question and answer, Zizo, Imam Ashour, Mahmoud Saber, and Mostafa Mohamed succeeded in scoring two goals against Nigeria, which is a small number from the team's offensive standpoint. Especially with Fattouh and Hany being neutralized in the first half by not advancing most of the time. Hossam Hassan gave the left-back Mohamed Hamdy relative freedom to advance in the second half, during which possession favored Nigeria (60% to 40% for our team). Despite many substitutions in the team, they were necessary not to experiment with players against an African team that has speed, strength, physical contact, and possession, which we will face in the Africa Cup of Nations. If it were not for the Nigerian team's weak offensive performance, the matter would have been different.

Speed will remain important, physical strength is important, fitness is important, collective pressing is important, and quick ball recovery is important. This is the essence of the struggle in football at the highest level beyond local competitions. In a long sprint race between Imam Ashour and a Nigerian player, the opponent had the lead. Ashour and Zizo are the fastest players in this formation, with Zizo possibly excelling in short sprints.

The match was held with no audience present, on the most important football stadium in Egypt, which suffers from poor turf. The justification was that the stadium was about to close for maintenance and to replace the summer turf with winter turf, then replace the winter turf with summer turf. This switching and adjustments give us a wonderful pitch for weeks or a few months. Meanwhile, in the western world, there is harsh winter, continuous rain, snow falling, ongoing matches, yet their pitches remain a charming green carpet. And in the east, there is extreme heat all year round, little winter some years, and the result is a charming green carpet!

All best wishes to the national team in the Africa Cup of Nations. Qualifying for the semi-finals would be wonderful and deserves congratulations, yet we dream of going further than this stage.