It is common knowledge for anyone who knows me or has ever read this blog that I am no fan of Hassan Shehata, Egypt's coach. However, his technical inadequacy aside, he has done an unbelievable job by leading Egypt to winning 3 consecutive Nations Cups. A feat unlikely to be rivaled for sometime to come. His major let down was his inability to take us to the World Cup in virtually the easiest Group around, but for some stroke of luck he was made a hero due circumstances surrounding the match with Algeria.
Love him or hate him, it's time for Shehata to go and for Egypt to move on. Not because of his inability to change games but because he has nothing to offer the team anymore. Yes I will always stick by the notion that he was never a coach or a tactician, only a motivator who happened to be lucky enough to lead the greatest ever footballing generation in Egypt. He did win stuff but what is happening now? Where did it all go wrong?
For me it seems he has become too arrogant for his own good. This was pointed out to me by a friend of my father's after the Sierra Leone game. He was spot on. In football as a coach it's OK to be arrogant. Look at Jose Mourinho, one of the most talented and successful coaches in a generation. He is so full of himself, you either love him or hate him, nothing in between. Manuel Jose arguably Ahly's greatest coach was arrogant too. Just ask any Zamalek fan or other Egyptian coaches! The difference between these men and Shehata is that for starters they had ability and more importantly never lost touch with the real reason they win....their players!
A coach is nothing without his players and the greatest managers like Sir Alex Ferguson are the ones who can get the best out of their players and keep them motivated so they can produce what they requires from them!
Shehata lost the plot. He was arrogant enough to think that by fielding a weakened inexperienced Egypt side against Sierra Leone he would still win. He was full of himself that he did not even care to study up on the strengths of the opposition. It seemed in Cairo we were playing a team from mars that we had no idea about. He also decided to change the formation that has brought him and Egypt huge success, 3-5-2 for some sort of a 4-4-2 with two very slow central defenders and ultimately paid the price. His arrogance did not stop here. After his medical staff deemed Amr Zaki and Shikabala unfit and they were dropped form the Egypt squad for a friendly. Hassan Shehata was incensed that 2 days later they were playing for their club Zamalek in the league, so he decided to drop them for the Leone game. His staff deemed them unfit yet he was mad at them?
Against Niger he continued his new trend. He again was clueless about the opposition and again decided to go for some sort of a 4-4-2 that was unsuccessful before! Captain Hassan seems to forget that football is not chess and it is not how you place players on the field that decides if you are attacking or defending, it's what you say to the players and the roles they are given that decides that. A 4-5-1 formation on paper looks very defensive but can be enthralling if turned to a 4-3-3 going forward. A formation is nothing but a number.
His selections were a bit weird with Abdel Fadil as right back for example. Sherif is a fantastic player but he has very limited international experience. With Abdel Shafy the left back it was the same way. A great player with limited experience. He continued not to select Egypt's greatest central midfielder Hossam Ashour because I think he deems him bad luck. (The only game he played under Shehata Egypt lost 4-1 or 4-0 in friendly vs Sudan). Regardless he lost the game and failed to control or influence the match form the touch line.
People automatically blame the players and the fact we need to inject new life into the squad and so on. This may be true and I agree the players have to share a part of the blame. Shehata tried to inject younger blood into the squad but possibly too soon. I do have another theory why the old guard is not performing well enough.
I said earlier that the players mainly won games for Shehata. The players were mainly from Ahly. OK Zamalek fans will automatically start arguing about this, but come on lets be realistic. In 2006 the squad had 7 out of 11 starters from Ahly. Hadary, Gomaa, Barakat, Abdel Wahab (R.I.P) Shawky, Abu Trieka and Meteb. In 2008 and 2010 it was a similar story. The Ahly players were living a golden age under Manuel Jose. Say what you like but Jose's influence on our victory's is not to be denied! He had instilled a winning mentality in his teams that was transferred with them when they played for their country. Even Zamalek, although not winning anything had decent coaches.
Take a look at things now. Look at both Ahly and Zamalek. They are playing extremely poorly. The main reason for Egypt's drop in form...."Al Hossamayen" or the Hossam's. Hossam El Badry and Hossam Hassan more so Badry. They have turned their teams into regular Joe teams. They are no longer the giants they once were. The Ahly players seem to play without purpose and when Moudy Fadl leads the line of Ahly and Egypt you know something is wrong. Both Ahly and Zamalek players are low on confidence and form
The end result in my opinion is that it seems extremely unlikely we are to qualify for the 2012 Africa Nations Cup and due to the new qualification system for 2013 we might find it very difficult to reach it either. On the up side if Shehata doesn't know when to quit like the likes of Algeria's Sadaan did and all respectable coaches do, Franz Beckenbauer left Germany after successive World Cup finals, the second of which he won.(but then again would you quit if you were making L.E 200,000, 30,000USD per month?). The Egyptian Federation should act and let him go and start right away looking for a well known foreign coach with a free hand to lead us to Brazil 2014. Shehata has done well for Egypt but it's time to move on, after all maybe this is a blessing in disguise and we can finally see Egypt in a World Cup!
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