Egypt coach Hector Cuper said his side is prepared to deal with Mali when both sides meet in their opening Group D game of the African Cup of Nations on Tuesday.
The Pharaohs will be eyeing a winning start against Mali to put them in a postion to claim the title which they last won in Angola ten years ago.
In the same group the Pharaohs will also be meeting Uganda and Ghana for their other matches and Cuper is expecting a difficult game this evening.
In an interview with Confederations of Africa Football portal,the former Valencia coach said he is forcusing on tactics to win today’s game.
“What we seen till now is that all the teams here are almost the same. It’s going to be a difficult game as all the other games and I hope we can win”,said Cuper.
“We are focusing on our tactics. It will be a tough game because Mali is a physical team. We will have our own plan that suits us. My strategy is to choose the best players to win, regardless of their age or experience. The one who suits my plan will play. We will be playing a game every three days so we can use many players. I won’t have only 11 players for all the matches.”said Cuper.
Meanwhile,Egypt captain Essam El Hadary is expecting his team to win this year’s tournament.It will be the seventh Africa Cup of Nation for the 44 year old goalkeeper.
“It’s normal that Egypt is back here (at the Africa Cup of Nations). We respect all the teams as they do with us. Our target is to win the tournament, but we are taking one game at a time. Personally, it’s my seventh Africa Cup of Nations and I’m proud of that. I hope that God grants us the strength to go all the way”,said El Hadary.
“We won three consecutive titles (2006, 2008, 2010) but this is history now. After, we missed the next three tournaments. Our aim now is to win the trophy again”, he added.
“We have some young players in the squad, but they play their trade in Europe or in Egypt’s biggest teams Ahly and Zamalek, so they don’t lack the needed experience;”
Pharaohs will be without injury hit keeper Sherif Ekramy who remains doubtful for the opening match against though he was not expected to start.
