Qualifying Egypt for 2022 World Cup is Queiroz’s priority – Gomaa

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Irrespective of who the Portuguese tactician invites to Pharaohs’ squad, he must qualify the North Africans for the global football showpiece

Carlos Queiroz’s major task is to qualify Egypt for the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar, according to Pharaohs great Wael Gomaa.

The former Real Madrid and Portugal manager was announced as the North African country’s new handler following the sacking of coach Hossam El Badry.

Queiroz has received a barrage of criticism after not inviting Mohamed Sherif and Mohamed Magdy Afsha for October’s double-header World Cup qualification fixtures against Libya.

Reacting to this development, the former Al Ahly centre-back refused to disapprove of the tactician’s decision as long as he earns the seven-time Africa Cup of Nations winners a place in Qatar 2022.

“Queiroz’s first impressions of the Egyptian players are good, he’s motivating them well,” Gomaa told Kingfut.

“We trust Queiroz completely, he’s an expert and responsible for his choices.

“Carlos contacted the players who were not called to the final squad, and he told them that they will always have the chance to join if they do well.

“The head coach chooses players according to his game plan, Queiroz is being criticized for no reason.

“Our main goal now is to win our next games against Libya, Queiroz’s priority is to qualify to the 2022 Fifa World Cup.”

Meanwhile, Queiroz has defended his choice of not inviting the established senior national team players.

“Calculations are illogical in football. This game only recognizes diligence, leave the calculations for the engineers and scientists,” he told the media.

“I don’t like to talk about a specific player in the Egyptian national team, and since I took up this task, I love and encourage anything that represents Egypt.

“The preparation for the Libya match took only five days, which is not enough, but we can work and prepare for the game.

“Libya is a strong opponent, but we know very well its weaknesses and strengths."

The Egyptian national team is lucky to have a distinguished group of players in all positions.”

As things stand, Egypt are second in Group F having accrued four points from their games.

Since their debut at the 1934 World Cup in Italy – where they crashed out in the Round of 16 (the first round) – the Egyptians boast two more appearances.

Their last outing was at the 2018 edition staged in Russia. There, Hector Cuper’s team failed to get past the group stage following their inability to negotiate their way past hosts Russia, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay in Group A.

2021-10-04 23:00:03

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