A major test is awaiting the African Champions on Monday as they face the South American giants, Brazil in their first match ever in the Confederations cup. The Pharaohs will need to restore the team's pride after losing comprehensively to Algeria by three goals to one a few days ago.

Just 48 hours are separating us from the anticipated match between Egypt and Brazil. Confidence and morale would have been much higher in the Egypt camp if the Pharaohs ended their World Cup qualifying match against Algeria with a good result. However, this wasn't the case and the Egyptian team now needs a miracle to make it to South Africa 2010.

The Pharaohs can still be the dark horse in the Confederations cup if they showed the same spirit that was shown in ACN 2008 in Ghana. The spirit that made them crush Ivory Coast and Cameroon by four goals can give the team a fair chance to make some surprising results in the current Confederations cup. However, do we expect this to happen?

It is true that facing Brazil, Italy and USA can't be compared to playing against African teams as these teams possess the skill and tactics that many African teams lack. These teams are not in the same league that we play in and winning against them can't be achieved with spirit alone.

Not only this, but the team looks very short on attack especially with the injury of Amr Zaki and Emad Meteb and with dropping Mido from selection as well.