By SAMUEL LUKHANDA –
EGYPT under-20 coach AlidAtia Ahmed Ezeldin is impressed with the level of organisation of the Cosafa tournament and the quality of football displayed.
Speaking at Nkana Stadium in the aftermath of his team 2-1 loss to South Africa in their last group game, Ezeldin heaped praise on the tournament organisers.
“I have been involved with football for a while and have played age group tournaments in North-Africa and Asia with the Egyptian team but this Cosafa tournament I must say is well organised and we thank Cosafa for inviting us to this tournament.
“We have a young team we are building for the next two years and this tournament has exposed us to a high level of competition,” said Ezeldin.
The Egyptian coach said his team have learnt valuable lessons and had no idea when coming how organised the tournament was adding every team they have played has caused them problems.
He said he did not watch all the games at the tournament but those that he has were of high quality.
He let rip the officiating of their match against South Africa branding the Angolan referee Joao Amado Goma as the worst person on the pitch that day.
”South Africa is a good side. They don’t need help from the referee to win the game but the referee spoiled a good contest today. He was the worst person on the pitch,” said the outspoken Egyptian coach.
He was also aggrieved that other teams were taking to the field 24 yours after they know the result of their game hence they have an advantage for the best runner up spot in the semi finals because they will know what they need to do.
He preferred that all games be played on the same day at the same time to avoid giving undue advantage to other teams.
As it stands, if Egypt get the best runners up spot they will again play South Africa at the same venue and it will be interesting to see how they get on after a ill-tempered and tense last few minutes of the last game.
South African coach Thabo Senong was cagey over their chances in the post-match conference playing down his team’s expectations after they remain unbeaten so far in the tournament.
Senong praised his team for executing the game plan but was concerned with the playing surface at Nkana Stadium that was heavy and slippery after the rains.
He said his team was having difficulties playing on that surface and they had to adjust and that remained his biggest challenge as they failed to expressed themselves fully.