admin
He is no stranger to both success and failure and would not want to underrate basement side Zimbabwe when the teams clash in a World Cup qualifier at the National Sports Stadium tomorrow.
Egypt, who have established themselves as top favourites to pull through to the next round of the qualifiers from Group G, carry a comfortable lead in the four-team pool as they aim for their first ticket to the prestigious tournament since 1990.
The Pharaohs are five points clear of second-placed Guinea, while Mozambique lie third with two points, one ahead of bottom side Zimbabwe.
Adly yesterday told The Herald that the visitors will not be tempted to allow complacency to creep into their camp by looking at the log standings.
Egypt should also have learnt hard lessons from the first leg in Alexandria where they needed a last minute penalty to brush aside a resolute Zimbabwe side comprising largely of young and inexperienced players.
“A football match is decided in 90 minutes, it doesn’t matter who you play,” said Adley.
“If you play with the mentality to win you will most probably get results but if you don’t have the right attitude, then that’s it.
Read More . . .
“Our mentality always looks forward. We don’t look at what has happened already. Our next match is always very important and we hope to have a good match with our brothers.
“Any team that pulls through to the World Cup should be supported because it will be nice to have an African flag flying at the tournament, with everyone on the continent behind.”
For 27 years he has been serving the Pharaohs in various capacities, winning a collection of accolades which include five African titles with the national team and another five continental club championships with Al Ahly.
Adly is no stranger to Zimbabwe, either, as this is his eighth visit to the Southern African country.
He has been here four times with former African club champions Al Ahly and had travelled on three occasions with the national team.
In fact Adly has travelled the breadth and width of the continent as he has been to 48 African countries in total on football commitments since 1972 when he joined Al Ahly.
“I like the work. It’s more of a calling and I enjoy doing everything for my nation. Every time we aim to be better.
“I have garnered a whole lot of experience in my career. I have been to 48 African countries and this is my eighth time here.
“Zimbabwe are a very good team and they have a culture of football. They play as a team. I still have memories when we played them in the 1990s and the match commissioner released a damning report after fans threw missiles and a replay was ordered.
“We played again in Lyon, France and Zimbabwe won. It was a difficult match,” said Adly.
The Egyptian national team arrived on Thursday morning with a lot to think about following the disappointing performance in their last friendly match with Botswana on Tuesday.
The Pharaohs were given a reality check by Botswana this week when they battled to a 1-1 home draw, which prompted the coach Bob Bradley to drop midfielder Tareq Hamed, defender Hazem Emam, Walid Soliman, Ayman Hefny and defender Ali Ghazal from the squad.
However, there are no major changes to the core of the squad that beat Zimbabwe 2-1 in the first leg in Alexandria which has experienced players like Ahmed Fathi, Wael Gomaa, Mohamed Aboutrika and Mahmoud Fathallah.
Veteran midfielder Aboutrika gave them the victory when he converted from the spot after Augustine Mbara made a careless challenge from behind on striker Mohamed Salah who plays for Basel in Switzerland.
Earlier Hosny Abd Rabou had given them the lead with a well taken freekick before Knowledge Musona’s brilliant strike restored parity.
Egypt Squad
Goalkeepers: Abdel-Wahed El-Sayed, Ahmed El-Shennawy (Zamalek) and Sherif Ekrami (Ahly)
Defenders: Ahmed Fathi, Wael Gomaa, Ahmed Shedid Qenawi, Saad Samir (Ahly), Mahmoud Fathallah, Omar Gaber and Sabri Rahil (Zamalek), Ahmed Elmohamady, and Ahmed Hegazy (Fiorentina)
Midfielders: Hossam Ashour, Abdullah El-Said, Mohamed Abou-Treika (Ahly), Ibrahim Salah, Ahmed Eid Abdel-Malek, Mohamed Ibrahim (Zamalek), Amr Soulaya (Ismaily), Ahmed Hamoudy (Smouha), Mohamed El-Nenny (Basel FC)
Strikers: Ahmed Hassan Mekky (Haras El-Hodoud), Ahmed Gafar (Zamalek), Mohamed Salah (Basel) and Ahmed Temsah (Dhofar)
Online Reporter