Egypt U-20 vs Costa Rica U-20 (0-2)

Egypt U-20 vs Costa Rica U-20 (0-2)

Date: 6-10-2009
Wrote: EP's webmaster

Egypt U-20 out of World Cup:

Despite playing at home, having the support of more than 70.000 supporters, the Egyptian team let the fans down with random play, poor delivery and finishing.

Costa Rica players knew how to stop Egypt from creating attacks, they knew how to close the Egyptians down and take advantage of the poor positioning and man marking in the Egyptian defense to score their only goal in the first half.

The first goal came from a freekick which was delivered into the near post where it was headed back before Hegazy to find Mena who connected with a stuning diving header to put the guests in the lead in the 19th minute.

After the goal, Egypt continued to have most of the possession but failed miserably to create chances. The only decent chances came to Talaat but his header was turned away by the keeper for a corner.

In the second, Soukup introduced Bogy and Afroto in place of Shoukry and Arafat but the Egyptian team continued to hoof the ball forward from the back line to the front line without showing ability to create real chances.

On the other side, Costa Rica players knew when to pass, when to hit the ball and when to run into space. They relied completely on counter attacks and dead ball situations and managed to create more than what the Pharaohs created despite the more ball posession that Egypt had.

In the 87th minute, Costa Rica put the second and final dagger into the Egyptian team by scoring from a well crafted counter attacking move.

Analytical point of view:

Egypt's manager Soukup cost the Egyptians the exit from World Cup. His tactics rarely worked, his substitutions weren't effective and his selection was questionable. He worked with this team for more than two years but he couldn't teach them how to play passing game, how to deal with pressure, how to defend freekicks and corners and how to deliver freekicks and corners to a man in the box.

If we have noticed, all Egyptian goals in this tournament came from individual efforts. Starting from the very first goal against Trinidad and Tobago, it was a magical run by Afroto intro the box to score. On the other hand, Afroto's second goal came from a freekick.

Hossam Arafat scored a couple of goals but both of them came from long range strikes. Bogy scored two as well, Talaat scored one, Shouky got two and all these goals came through random play, freekicks and long range efforts.

EP will try to summarize Soukup's mistakes in this tournament and in the preparation of the U-20 team:

1- Inability to choose the best eleven:

The Egyptian coach started the tournament against Trinidad and Tobago and despite the 4-1 win, it was clear that the Egyptian number 2 centre back is not doing well. In the 2nd and 3rd matches, Egypt changed the two centre backs and things started to improve. In Costa Rica match, the coach brought back Hegazy and the number 2 Soliman to the centre back and Egypt conceded two.

The Egyptian coach should have kept the centre backs without change or brought Hegazy back to play alongside Moaz.

In the right back, Aly Al-Araby wasn't doing well versus Italy and in the previous matches, yet he remained in the starting lineup.

In midfield, Afroto was dropped to let Arafat start. This was the worst tactical decision as Afroto is mobile, quick and can do the unexpected. In addition to this, the player's delivery of corners/freekicks is much better than Shoukri.

Arafat on the other side, was extremely disappointing, he didn't offer anything rather than getting in the way of Talaat while he was trying to shoot in the first half.

Soukup had a winning formation with Bogy as a striker and Shoukri as a right winger. He should have started with Bogy alongside Talaat in attack instead of Arafat and started Afroto as a left midfielder in order to score an early goal and destroy Costa Rica's confidence.

2- Inability to teach players modern football:

At this age, winning World Cup is not the main goal, but developing a team with highly talented and tactically capable individuals is much more important. Soukup failed in both goals.The players got expelled from the tournament and didn't look organized on the field.

The Egyptian defenders don't know how to defend dead ball situations. The man to man marking is poor. The Egyptian team conceded a goal against Paraguay in stoppage time because of the poor positioning inside the box, same problem continued versus Italy as they grabbed their second goal from a poorly defended corner. Tonight, the first goal was once again, a poorly defended freekick.

The Egyptian coach couldn't find better full backs for Egypt. The contribution of Al-Araby in attacks was abysmal while Islam wasn't the best left sided player either.

The Egyptian team had no solution to cope with pressing but to hoof the ball forward. This could work in the 60s but in modern football and agains organized teams, this will never work.

Add to this, the players inability to hold the ball well under pressure, they can't receive the ball well under pressure and can't pass it fast enough or accurate enough to a teammate. The Egyptian players didn't move to spaces and kept ball watching in the games against Paraguay and Costa Rica as both sides knew how to put the Egyptian midfield under pressure.

Last but not least, the lack of teamplay hurt the Egyptian team the most. What did the Egyptian manager do for two years to gaurd against individual and selfish play?

3- Poor timing in substitutions:

With the exception of Italy match, the use of substitutes by Soukup was very poor. Bringing attacker for an attacker Paraguay in the last minute of the game. Delaying Bogy and Afroto's substitution to the 52nd minute! Why he didn't bring them on during half time break?

In addition to this, taking off Shoukri didn't help the team as the latter is one of the few Egyptian players who can provide something positive in front of goal and handle pressure.

4- The use of one striker:

Talaat is a good target man but can he handle so many defenders all by himself? With Bogy on form and having massive confidence boost from his game and two goals against Italy, it would have been better to start him alongside Talaat.

Costa Rica, Paraguay, Algeria and Morocco:

All these teams have many things to share and all of them have caused us troubles. They play the same kind of football. Tight marking, pressing game from midfield, time wasting, harsh fouls, and proper use of counter attacks and freekicks.

It seems that Egypt can do well against most African teams, and most European teams as well, but we struggle against Latin American football and North African football which plays in the same style of Latin America.

The positives:

Not so many. The Egyptian team is very poor in playing modern possession football and handling pressure and so, as a team, the same mistakes of their predecessors will continue for another generation.

Speaking about individuals, The goalkeeper Lotfy is a good shotstopper, he needs better management of crosses and he can be a long term replacement for Hadary. In defense, Moaz and Hegazy look promising especially Hegazy. He is tall and really good in the air. In midfield, Shoukri and Afroto are players to watch for the future while in attack, both Talaat and Bogy will have good future with their teams and on the international level as well.