Capital Cup final.
The Egyptian national team lost to its Croatian counterpart with a score of 4/2 in the final of the International Friendly Capital Cup tournament, on Tuesday evening.
The match witnessed Egyptian pressure from the beginning, as a huge public event was held at Misr Stadium in the Administrative Capital.
In the fifth minute, the Egyptian national team was fouled outside the penalty area. In the sixth minute, Rabia opened the scoring.
The goalkeeper blocked Trezeguet’s shot, and Mohamed Hamdi passed the ball and Rabia scored.
After Egypt took an early lead, Croatia took control of the ball and its players retreated deep to defend.
A wonderful header from Domagoy Vida in the 17th minute was blocked by Abu Jabal.
In the 17th minute, Mustafa Mohamed almost scored a second goal with a wonderful shot past the goalkeeper, but the ball hit the right post.
The Croatian team equalized in the 21st minute when Nikola Vlasic’s wonderful shot rebounded off the crossbar and then into Abu Jabal’s goal.
In the 35th minute, Mayer’s powerful shot almost gave Croatia the lead, but the ball went over the crossbar. In the 48th minute, Petkovic missed a goal in front of an empty goal.
At the beginning of the second half, Hossam Hassan replaced Akram Tawfiq with Ahmed Nabil Koka, and the Croatian national team replaced Labrovic and Buccanier with goalkeepers Kotarski, Kovacic, and Rozovic.
Hossam Hassan said on the On Time Sports channel: “The Egyptian fans were the best of the day, and I was hoping to make them happy, and I told the players that the greatest benefit would be the return of the fans to support the team.”
He stressed: “I am determined to participate in the international competition because this is the best preparation for the World Cup qualifiers next June.”
In the second half, the Croatian team continued to control the ball, and the Egyptian team players were conservative.
In the 57th minute, Petkovic scored the second goal with a header from the right side of Abu Jabal.
Croatia national team coach Zlako Dalic sent off both Modric and Gvardiol in the 60th minute.
In the 66th minute, Hossam replaced Hassan Afsha with Mustafa Fati, activating the striker to equalize the score.
In the 77th minute, when the defense lost control, substitute Andrej Kramaric scored the third goal with a header.
In the 79th minute, Hossam Hassan entered in place of Mustafa Mohamed, Trezeguet, and Malmouche with Mohamed Sharif, Mohamed Al-Shami, and Mustafa Shalabi, and Tifo entered in place of Marwan Attia.
After a precise counterattack, Mayer succeeded in scoring the fourth goal with a powerful shot from outside the penalty area in the 86th minute.
The Egyptian national team tried to reduce the difference, and Mohamed Abdel Moneim was able to score the second goal in the 94th minute, seconds before the end of the match.
Hossam Hassan explained: “Croatia was the favorite to beat us, but we wanted a surprise and in the end we advanced. Then Mustafa Muhammad’s ball hit the post.
“I thought it would have an impact on the game, but we took a lot of chances.” The positives are despite the loss to Croatia.” The coach of the Egyptian national team revealed, “The confrontation with Croatia witnessed the absence of nearly five key players, such as Zizou, El-Shenawy, and Emam Ashour, due to injuries, and the team’s performance will differ after the return of all the injured, as well as Ramadan Sobhi, who was injured with his team.”
Hossam Hassan continued, “In addition to the absence of the injured, there was an absence of players who were supposed to come.”
Hossam Hassan concluded his statements, “I am reassured about the next stage because of the sadness of the players after the loss, even though it is an international tournament, and the Croatia team is strong and won bronze and runner-up in the World Cup in the last two editions, and despite that, I was hoping for victory as I always want.”
After Egypt’s friendly match in the International Capital Cup, the Egyptian national team is preparing to compete in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in June next year.
The Egyptian national team will face Burkina Faso in the third round on June 3.
The Pharaohs will visit Guinea Bissau on June 11 in the fourth round.
The Egyptian team leads the qualifying standings with six points, two points ahead of Burkina Faso.
