19 June 2009
Kampala — Egypt 1 Italy 0
CAN an African team finally win the soccer World Cup on home soil next year? Egypt gave the world a firm answer to that question Thursday night with a thoroughly deserved 1-0 Confederations Cup win over world champions Italy.
Mohamed Hommos' goal five minutes before halftime clinched the first points of the tournament for the African champions.
Egypt's coach Hassan Shehata and his players hailed the win as a proud achievement and have set their sights on the tournament's semi-finals.
"This is a great result," Shehata said after an emotional night for the Egyptians, whose victory over the world champions is their best ever result.
"We had a good game against Brazil technically but the result did not go our way. But this gives us great hope for the semi-finals," he added.
Egypt had lost all four previous encounters with Italy, who had never before been beaten by African opponents in 14 previous matches. All four sides in Group B can still reach the last four.
South Africa optimistic
Egypt's bravery looks set to spur hosts South Africa ahead of their clash with Spain.
South Africa captain Aaron Makoena told The New Vision: "We know what we have to do to qualify. We showed we had recovered from the draw against Iraq and we will try to prove the same."
Mokoena said he was eager to renew battle with Fernando Torres having come off a distinct second best to the Spanish striker just two months ago.
"Torres is a quality striker; we are going to have to be alert for the whole 90 minutes.
"The last time I played him, Liverpool won." Torres scored twice and Mokoena was taken off at half-time in the 4-0 win over Blackburn in April
Traffic jams
While the action on the pitch is going according to plan for South Africa, there is need to improve infrastructure.
FIFA boss Sepp Blatter has on more than one occasion been late for either press briefings or matches as a result of traffic jams.
"I believe these problems will be solved before the World Cup," Blatter remarked. "Such problems are always going to happen. That's why we also have this rehearsal."
Today, 9.30pm
Spain v S.Africa SS3
Iraq v N.Zealand SS7
Standings
Group A P W D L F A Pts
Spain 2 2 0 0 6 0 6
S.Africa 2 1 1 0 2 0 4
Iraq 2 0 1 1 0 1 1
N.Zland 2 0 0 2 0 7 0
Group B P W D L F A Pts
Brazil 2 2 0 0 7 3 6
Italy 2 1 0 1 3 2 3
Egypt 2 1 0 1 4 4 3
US 2 0 0 2 1 6 0
Additional reporting by Reuters
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