Egypt head coach Hector Cuper has summoned the backlines of top home clubs, Ahly and Zamalek ahead of the country’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Nigeria in March.
The tactician included defenders; Sabri Rahil, Hamada Tolba, Ali Gabr, Ahmed Dwidar, Ahmed Hegazy, Ramy Rabia, Omar Gaber and Mohamed Hani, joining attacking options; Ramadan Sobhi, Moemen Zakareya, Abdallah El-Said, Amr Gamal, Ayman Hefni, Mahmoud Kahraba, Mostafa Fathi and Bassem Morsi.
Cuper also lined up friendlies for the home-based players against Jordan and Libya on Wednesday and Friday, with a mandatory one-week training camp in the Upper Egyptian city of Aswan.
“We chose to play against Jordan and Libya to instill a winning mentality among the players in all games, whether official or friendly matches,” the Argentine coach said in a television interview as quoted by African Football.
“We also want to experiment with some new faces to act as back-ups for our regular players.”
A total of 32 players are to meet not excluding midfielders; Hossam Ghaly and Tarek Hamed as the North African giants seek to pile more misery on the Super Eagles whose home based players failed to progress to the CHAN 2016 quarter finals following their 1-0 loss to Guinea at Rubavu.