The Pharaohs and Shehata defeated themselves to grant USA the qualification ticket to the Confederations Cup semifinal. The team who defeated world champions turned into a 3rd division side within 48 hours.With this shameful result, the Pharaohs can say goodbye to Confederations cup despite Italy's 0-3 defeat at the hand of Brazil.

Confederations cup: Joy & sorrow:

The Egyptian national team ended their run in the Confederations cup in the worst way possible. Despite giving Egyptians, Africans and the whole Arab world great joy following the win over Italy and the brave display against Brazil, the Pharaohs killed the dream of millions by themselves thanks to their careless display and improper selection and tactics.

The mighty Pharaohs who overcome Italy just a couple of days ago, fell prey to USA and granted them the qualification ticket to the semi final in a bizarre fashion, yet it is quite similar to the situation of Egypt in the World Cup qualification group which put them at bottom as well.

The Egyptian national team has a long history for being one of the most inconsistent teams on the planet. If we remember Egypt's 1-5 defeat against Saudi Arabia while ten men Egyptians managed to come back against Mexico from being 2-0 down to hold the host nation to a 2-2 draw.

Consistency is a remedy to all Egyptian national team problems. It would make the Pharaohs qualify to World Cup and possibly challenge for the title. However, our team rarely show consistency and when it does, it only lasts for a short period of time then the bizarre displays and results resurface once again.

From winning Vs Italy to losing 0-3 to USA

Lack of consistency is obviously the main reason of this horrific show by the Pharaohs in the USA game and their terrific display versus Italy. However, it is not the only reason.

Coach Hassan Shehata got alot of deserved praise for choosing the best eleven against Italy and for making the right changes. However, Egypt suffered from the inconsistency from the coach himself.

The man at helm of the coaching staff in the national team, looked like a master tactician in the Brazil and Italy matches. However, he appeared to have lost the plot completely in USA clash.

Poor selection and changes in Fathy role:

Shehata decided all of a sudden to drop Ahmed Said Oka from selection and put Ahmed Fathi as a centre back instead. This was mainly to allow Muhammadi to play the role of the right back instead of Fathy as the former crossing is considerably better and could offer more attacking options for the Pharaohs especially after the injury of Moawad who was a key player against Brazil and Italy.

However, Muhammadi's sloppy defending caused a lot of problems in the Egyptian right flank. In addition to this, Fathy wasn't comfortable in his new position as a centre back and didn't show any harmony with Hany Said and Gomaa. A blatant example was the first goal which came due to extremely poor coordination between Hany Said, Fathy and El Hadary.

Another managerial sin was the including of slow Ahmed Samir Farag in the left back. He was no where near Moawad in skills, rarely went forward and didn't have the skill to cross or beat his man. Moawad was injured but according to reports, he could take part in the game. However, he never came on in the 2nd half and the Egyptian team never created anything from the left wing.

Shehata also had to drop the man of the match against Italy, Mohamed Hommos in order to play with two strikers. This sounds like a good plan but in reality, none of the two strikers (Ahmed Eid and Abdel Ghany in particular) have the skill to play as a pure striker on the international level.

No Mido; other replacement strikers are not ready for international games:

Abdel Ghany was simply shocking in his first official match. While he is pretty good in the air in the Egyptian league, he never took advantage of crosses. He had a golden chance early on but he blasted the ball well wide, and he completely missed a sitter a few minutes later.

Shehata called Abdel Ghany, Raouf and Abogresha for the striker position. However, they are not international players. Their experience is limited and they didn't play enough for the national team. The Egyptian manager refused to call Mido for the tournament which appeared to be a big mistake since he is the only quality forward that Egypt have together with Zidan.

A long and tedious tournament like the Confederations cup means that players could get injured or suspended and so, Mido should have been there even as a substitute.

Poor in-game management:

Management during the USA match was completely out of order as well. It was obvious that the Egyptian team is having a nightmare since the kick off, players didn't link well with each other, passing and ball control were all extremely poor and it appeared that Abdel Ghany, Samir Farag and Muhammadi are not doing well. Shehata kept all the players on the field till hal time despite going 1-0 down. the Egyptian team never looked like it will bounce back and equalize and so, Shehata should have made a couple of changes early on to restore balance in the team.

It was shocking to see the Egyptian team being 1-0 down at the interval and then, the players kick off the 2nd half without any change in the line-up as if they were doing well and everything was going according to the plan.

Even after deciding to make a change, Shehata brought in Ahmed Hassan for Abdel Malik! Hassan is great at holding the ball and delaying the rhythm which is great when the Pharaohs are leading but since he is past his prime time, it is not the best to introduce him at the expense of a striker while the Egyptian team is falling behind by a goal!