Egypt names new football coach

Shawky Gharib has been named as new coach for Egypt’s national football team, replacing American coach Bob Bradley, who failed to lead Egypt to Brazil for next summer’s World Cup.

The Egyptian Football Federation (EFA) announced the appointment on Wednesday.

Gharib was previously assistant to Egyptian football guru Hassan Shehata, who won three consecutive African Championships with team Egypt in 2006, 2008 and 2010.

However, Shehata also failed to lead Egypt to the World Cup in summer 2012 in South Africa, after a dramatic play off reflected in highly politicized tensions on social media websites and media outlets between fans, activists and journalists from the two countries. 

Gharib’s mission is similar to that of his predecessors. Egypt has only reached the World Cup twice in its football history, in 1934 and 1990.

Gharib coached Egypt’s youth team to third place in the 2001 World Cup in Argentina. He has also been general manager of many Egyptian league teams.

After his appointment, Gharib said he could not describe his happiness. 

“The ultimate dream for any coach is to lead his national team… I hope that I can rise to the level of responsibility that I have been given by the officials. Our goal now is to build up a new team that can bring back the glory days of our national team,” Gharib told privately owned Al Hayat channel.

Egypt failed to reach the upcoming World Cup after a massive 6-1 loss to the Ghanaian national team in Ghana in October. It would have had to win by five goals during the second round in Cairo to beat Ghana to the tournament.

Critics say that a major reason for Egypt’s bad performance was the suspension of football activity due to political and security unrest. The EFA announced that the Egyptian league would kick off next month in an attempt to resolve the current situation.