Egypt defeats New Zealand in the “Capital of Egypt” Cup
The Egyptian team ended the match that was held at Misr Stadium in the Administrative Capital with an unanswered goal from a penalty kick scored by Mostafa Mohamed in the 29th minute in an exciting display, and the victory came over the New Zealand team.
The Egyptian Capital Cup tournament begins, and the winner from Croatia and Tunisia will wait in the final, which is the match that will be held today, Saturday
The most notable events of the match came in the 23rd minute after a complete goal kick by Imam Ashour, a national team player, but he fell after being tackled from behind by New Zealand defender Nando Bianquer.
The referee of the match did not count anything, and the match was stopped for treatment for Imam Ashour, an Egyptian national team player, due to a shoulder injury, and after a review.
The referee of the match for video technology indicated that a penalty kick was awarded in favor of the Egyptian national team after obstructing an attempt by Imam Ashour to pass into the penalty area, which was blocked by Mustafa Mohamed.
The formation was as follows:
Goalkeeper: Abu Jabal
Defense line: Mohamed Hamdi, Abdel Moneim, Rami Rabiea, Hani.
Midfield: Imam Ashour, Marwan Attia, afsha. Offensive line: Trezeguet, Mustafa Mohamed, Omar Marmoush
While the composition of the New Zealand national team was as follows
Goalkeeper: Max Crocombe
Defense line: Liberato Cacace – Nando Benacre – Michael Boxall – Danny Ingham
Midfield: Clayton Lewis – Matthew Garrett – Marko Stemanic
Offensive line: Callum McWatt – Max Mata – Sarpreet Singh
The match between Egypt and New Zealand was officiated by Ivorian referee Clement Franklin as referee, Senegalese El Hadj Malick Samba and Ivorian Nouhou Ouattara as assistants, and Senegalese Albert Diouf as fourth referee, while Moroccan Hamza El Farq was present as referee for video technology and was assisted by Moroccan Fatiha Al-Jarmoumi.
The Egyptian Capital Cup tournament is the first test for the new technical staff of the Egyptian national team, led by Hossam Hassan, who took over the responsibility of succeeding Portuguese Rui Vitoria.
Hassan (57 years old), the all-time top scorer for the Egyptian national team, was appointed instead of Portuguese Rui Vitoria in early February, following the failure and exit from the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast.
The team was missing its first star, Mohamed Salah, who asked to stay with his English team, Liverpool, after finally recovering from an injury he suffered at the beginning of the continental finals.
Salah’s absence sparked controversy, especially since he returned to participate with his team and played four matches. Arsenal’s defensive midfielder Mohamed Elneny was also absent because he did not participate in his team’s matches on a regular basis, and Hussein El Shahat and Mustafa Shalabi were injured, in addition to first-choice goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy because he was injured in the African Cup.
The “Pharaohs” are preparing to continue their journey in the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, which will be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Egypt leads its continental group with two wins over Djibouti (6-0) and Sierra Leone (2-0), and will meet Burkina Faso and then Guinea Bissau in June.
Hassan made six changes to his first starting lineup compared to the last, which lost to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (1-2) in the African Cup of Nations, as he started with Mohamed Abu Jabal in goalkeeping, and also included Mohamed Hamdi and Mohamed Hani in the defense line, and Imam Ashour and Mohamed Magdy.” Afsha in the middle, with Omar Marmoush in attack.
Egypt confirmed its superiority over New Zealand by achieving its second victory over them in three matches, including a draw.
Egypt lost Ashour’s efforts 26 minutes after the start of the match due to injury, as he left crying, and Hamdi Fathi entered in his place.
Mustafa Mohamed opened the scoring from a penalty kick after a foul on Ashour, which was awarded by the video assistant referee “Rat” (29).
Mahmoud Hassan “Trezeguet” almost doubled the score (45+3) with his second shot near the left post.
Abu Jabal blocked Max Andrew Mata’s shot (60) from close range, saving his country from a draw.
Malmus wasted his second chance (62nd) after a counterattack and shot over the goal.
Sarpreet Singh’s shot bounced off the crossbar after he took a direct free kick (68).
Mustafa Mohamed tried to score a brace with a powerful shot over the goal (75).
Marwan Attia almost scored a wonderful goal (79) with a powerful shot from outside the penalty area that bounced off the right post.
Hossam Hassan, the technical director of the Egyptian national team, praised the wonderful spirit that appeared on the national team’s players against New Zealand in the match that was held at Misr Stadium in the Administrative Capital in the Egyptian Capital Cup tournament with the participation of 4 teams.
Hossam Hassan said, in an interview with On Time Sports after the match: “It was very important that we started by achieving the victory at the opening of the Misr Stadium; “Let history remain a witness to the victory in the first match on the field, and also to us as a technical staff.”
He added: “I thank the national team players for their performance in the New Zealand match.
The New Zealand national team is no less than the big teams in Europe, but the spirit of the players was important in this match.”
