28 March 2011
Africas most successful coach faces an abrupt end to his winning reign as the future of Egypts Hassan Shehata is decided this week in the wake of a dramatic loss at the weekend.
A decision on the future of the coach is expected on Wednesday after Egypts hopes of a successful defence of their continental crown suffered a severe blow away against South Africa.
The Egyptian Football Association has called what it termed an emergency meeting to discuss the defeat, a statement on their website www.efa.com said on Monday.
Egypt have gone from being the all-conquering, record-breaking winners of the last three African Nation Cups to facing the ignominy of failing to qualify for the next finals.
The fickle nature of football was no better displayed than at Ellis Park in Johannesburg as Egypt proved stronger than their South African hosts in their vital Group G game and looked odds on for valuable away point and a significant swing in the balance of power in the group, but got caught by a last-gasp counter attack.
Shehatas stock tumbled faster than any Wall Street crash as Katlego Mphela scored the games only goal with the lack kick and left Egypt bottom of the qualifying group. They have just a single point at the halfway stage and are six points behind leaders South Africa, who effectively need four more points from three remaining matches to qualify for the 2012 finals, which are being co-hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
Our chances are less than 50 percent now but we will still try to qualify, said assistant coach Shawki Gharib, who attended the post-match press conference instead of Shehata.
Asked about the future of the coaching team, he added: That decision depends on the football association. The answer cannot come from me in a press conference. It will come a discussion with the whole management.
Video: Egypt’s assistant coach Shawki Gharib
Egypt went into the match without any league activity for the last two matches following popular protests that led to the removal of president Hosni Mubarak.
Shehatas failure to publicly support the protesters in Tahrir Square in Cairo had let to calls for his sacking before the trip to South Africa and his image, when shown on the giant television screen in the Johannesburg stadium, was jeered by a large group of Egyptian supporters on Saturday.
A former international, the 61-year-old coach was initially brought in as a caretaker after Egypt flopped in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers.
But he stayed on to win the Nations Cup on home soil in 2006 and since picked up two more titles in 2008 and 2010, setting a new standard.
In the process Egypt set a new record of nine successive wins and 19 unbeaten matches in the finals tournament.
His achievements, which also included an upset win for Egypt over Italy at the 2009 Confederation Cup, have set new standard for coaching on the continent but blighted his copybook in November 2009 when Egypt lost to in a play-off match to decide a place at the 2010 World Cup.
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