Would FIFA do this to a European team?

[Pharaoh]

that is a hell of a schedule..and yea UEFA/FIFA would let this happen to teams like Turkey, Serbia, Greece, Romania, and several others..but not teams like Italy, France, England, etc.

True... the big name and big money teams are FIFA's lifeline.

I think 5 competitive internationals in 15 days is downright unprecedented. Egypt should disrespect the competition as much as FIFA is disrespecting it.

[Pharaoh]

Are people in Egypt blaming their IFF and their headcoach because of this? If not atleast you guys are better off than us.

If our coach was doing badly, we'd find a way to blame him . Thank God he's built up pretty good job security. Though we all know how quickly that can vanish.

[Pharaoh]

Marg Bar Qaddafi

Why Qaddafi?

I blame Idi Amin for this one.

[persian boy]

i hope iraq get their butts kicked so they can get back in touch with reality.
the asian cup win has gotten to their heads

[Demis-11]

i hope iraq get their butts kicked so they can get back in touch with reality.
the asian cup win has gotten to their heads

definitely!, all my iraqi buddies think iraq is a better footballing nation than greece..i tell them u wudnt qualify for any competition playing in UEFA and your players besides akram and mohammad are convinient store workers and shawarma makers lol

[DubFreeek]

Who told u to win the african cup????

[roy]

Or a team with money like Qatar? Egypt had its request to reschedule their World Cup qualifier against Rwanda until after the Confederations Cup denied. The match was originally scheduled for June 20, but that falls in the middle of the Confederations Cup, so FIFA is making Egypt play the match before the Confederations Cup (June 10) instead.

Therefore, this is what Egypt's hellish schedule looks like in June (at least 5 competitive internationals in 15 days):

June 6: Algeria vs. Egypt - 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier
June 10: Egypt vs. Rwanda - 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier
June 15: Brazil vs. Egypt - 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup
June 18: Egypt vs. Italy - 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup
June 21: Egypt vs. USA - 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup

Then if they make it out of the group stage there would be 2 more matches, for a total of 7.

For me, World Cup qualifying takes priority hands down. It isn't even a contest. For anyone not familiar, Egypt/Algeria derbies are simply crazy (and violent). That match will take the most out of us.

I wouldn't mind it in the least bit if the technical staff decided to send a B-team to the Confederations Cup, though I doubt that would happen. It's like we're being penalized for being in the Confederations Cup.

I strongly believe if Egypt were France or England, FIFA would have allowed us to play that June 10 qualifier after the Confederations Cup and not force us to play it before hand.

Walla no problem, dool welad gid'3an we ha yaklu el akhdar wil yabis.
Draw the 1st game then win the 2nd at home.
I think these games will put the players in compatitive mood while Brazil & italy are still relaxed so in a good way it'll give the players something to fight for.
I would worry more if the games were after the cup.

[Demis-11]

hey Pharoah...off topic...but what is Shikabala doing nowadays...is he still getting himself into trouble lol or better yet...is Zamalek getting him into trouble

I remember once Rivaldo complained he had to play 3 matches in 7 day..but shit that schedule sucks

[Sumerian]

i hope iraq get their butts kicked so they can get back in touch with reality.
the asian cup win has gotten to their heads

Believe me Iraq has gotten their reality check after failing to advance to the 2nd round of the WCQs when all they needed was a draw against Qatar after successfully beating Australia & China! Instead of waiting on FIFA to award Iraq points for the illegal Brazilian player, the team should have went out there to get a win.

The Iraqi FA is corrupt and that's why the team is doing so poorly after the Asian Cup; the FA is deciding the lineup not the coach and Vieira just received the axe even though he was not given the freedom to pick the players he wants.

Iraq's now back to a homegrown coach for the time being and capt. Younis Mahmoud has been kicked out (Thank God!!!). The Asian Cup has been a curse and I'd take a WC berth over it any day.

If you guys think TM gets crap friendlies, Iraq gets ZERO friendlies until a week before a tournament in which they will schedule a game with either Jordan/Syria/UAE.

[Pharaoh]

Who told u to win the african cup????

Probably these random West African Egypt fans

[Pharaoh]

Walla no problem, dool welad gid'3an we ha yaklu el akhdar wil yabis.
Draw the 1st game then win the 2nd at home.
I think these games will put the players in compatitive mood while Brazil & italy are still relaxed so in a good way it'll give the players something to fight for.
I would worry more if the games were after the cup.

If it were up to me, everyone on the team is on a Fool Medames diet starting today. The resulting natural gas should knock out the competition.

[Pharaoh]

hey Pharoah...off topic...but what is Shikabala doing nowadays...is he still getting himself into trouble lol or better yet...is Zamalek getting him into trouble

I remember once Rivaldo complained he had to play 3 matches in 7 day..but shit that schedule sucks

I think PAOK did well to get rid of Shika. The occasional flashes of brilliance are not worth the the inconsistency and unreliability. Not to mention his strange attitude. He was actually dropped from the national team's lineup days before the Ghana friendly after initially being called up.

These days he's busy trying to help Zamalek fight off relegation .

[Pharaoh]

Believe me Iraq has gotten their reality check after failing to advance to the 2nd round of the WCQs when all they needed was a draw against Qatar after successfully beating Australia & China! Instead of waiting on FIFA to award Iraq points for the illegal Brazilian player, the team should have went out there to get a win.

The Iraqi FA is corrupt and that's why the team is doing so poorly after the Asian Cup; the FA is deciding the lineup not the coach and Vieira just received the axe even though he was not given the freedom to pick the players he wants.

Iraq's now back to a homegrown coach for the time being and capt. Younis Mahmoud has been kicked out (Thank God!!!). The Asian Cup has been a curse and I'd take a WC berth over it any day.

If you guys think TM gets crap friendlies, Iraq gets ZERO friendlies until a week before a tournament in which they will schedule a game with either Jordan/Syria/UAE.

Though all matches need to be taken seriously and none are easy, I believe the wildcard is your game against South Africa. A win over them and you're in the semis, a loss and Bafana Bafana goes instead. A draw and it'll likely come down to goal difference from the other matches.

[DubFreeek]

Probably these random West African Egypt fans

so take the consequences u complain u have to play italy & brazil & usa in a short time, we complain we have to play uae & qatar & saudi in a short time

sad but true

[Sumerian]

Though all matches need to be taken seriously and none are easy, I believe the wildcard is your game against South Africa. A win over them and you're in the semis, a loss and Bafana Bafana goes instead. A draw and it'll likely come down to goal difference from the other matches.

Very true. I just hope Iraq get 3 pts from New Zealand because we perform well against strong teams but poorly against poor teams. :S
Btw, do you follow El-Ismaily at all? They have a 21 year old Iraqi forward Mustafa Karim and he's been on the topscorer charts for the second season in a row in Egypt (right now he's tied for first place). It's quite an achievement considering he's moved to arguably the strongest league in Africa and has had such an impact while being an Olympic team player. However, with the mismanagement in the Iraqi NT, he's never been given a proper chance and Younis Mahmoud has always retained his spot even though he's clearly out of shape (plays in Qatar, duh), out of form, and I honestly never rated him as a great striker (he's only good in the air, 3 headers in the Asian Cup...while he scuffed about 5 sitters).

Mustafa Karim will be our best hope for the Confederations Cup because the Asian Cup generation has peaked and is now going downhill. Almost all our players are playing in Qatar, one club has 3 Iraqis! There was a young Iraqi striker playing for Al-Mareekh and he was doing very well yet even he opted to go to Qatar. I'd much rather our players go to Sudan, 20 times better than Qatar.