Zlatan Leaves Swedish Nationall Team Again.

[Demis-11]

it is not a useless friendly ,would you say the same to hleb?a useless friendly in iran?

well considering belarus is a world football powerhouse....yes

[Pharaoh]

That's a good summary of his past few yaers Haf3z. It was quite a fall for the guy after his injury but he's always been a consistant keeper. Egypt did try and secure his commitment the entire time though, even during his injury. He kept saying that he "needed more time" to decide on his international future. He played in Sweden's opening match with T&T in the World Cup and did a great job. Our keeper Essam El-Hadary is starting to age a bit though and Shaaban would've been the perfect replacement. Sherif Ekramy of Feyenoord is still really young, so hopefully Hadary can take us through World Cup qualifying at least.

[Pharaoh]

useless or not, keep in mind it was Sweden that asked Egypt for the match.

[Pharaoh]

Rami Shaaban on facing his "other" country:

EXCLUSIVE: Rami Shaaban says he will sing the Egyptian national anthem while wearing the Swedish jersey when the two nations meet on Wednesday



Egypt play Sweden in an international friendly on Wednesday at the Cairo International Stadium. Swedish number one, Rami Shaaban, who has an Egyptian father, can't wait.

Rami made his international debut against his mother's Finland, but says this game is much more special.

"To play against Egypt is much more special for me than to play against Finland," he said to EgyptianPlayers.com on Thursday evening.

Shaaban, currently at Fredrikstad, is sure he didn't turn down the chance to play for Egypt, where he feels his roots belong.

"I can promise that I didn't reject Egypt," he says.

"I didn't hear from them at all after I got back from my injury in 2003. No one called, emailed or sent a letter to me about playing for Egypt and that is the truth!

"Mohsen Saleh called me in October 2002 I think and he said that he wanted me to represent Egypt. But at the time I still lived in a hotel in London and my wife and son were still in Sweden, and I hadn't settled down with Arsenal. So I said to him that I can't make up my mind yet and the same answer went to Sweden."

The match excites Rami, who is about to leave for Cairo, where he had a spell at Zamalek. "Its going to be so nice. I'm flying to to Egypt tomorrow inshallah (God Willing) and we play them on Wednesday actually."

However, he is unsure about the crowd reaction, and whether the Egyptians will cheer or jeer him. "I don't know how it will be. My feeling is that most people are angry at the (Egyptian) FA and not me because I didn't say no to Egypt. It was Egypt who never called me.

"Of course Egyptians are patriots and think I may have made a wrong decision, but it was not in my hands."

When asked by EgyptianPlayers.com if he would sing both national anthems, Rami replied without any hesitance: "Of course!"