Egypt have high hopes for football at Paris Olympics despite absence of Mohamed Salah

Former Arsenal midfielder Mohamed Elneny captains side who start campaign against Dominican Republic on Wednesday

Mohamed Elneny is one of two over-age players in the Egyptian Olympic squad. AFP

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Despite not being able to secure the services of Mohamed Salah, Egypt’s football team kick off their Paris Olympics campaign against the Dominican Republic on Wednesday with high hopes for a podium finish.

Captained by former Arsenal midfielder Mohamed Elneny, the young Pharaohs are making their 13th appearance in men’s football at the Olympics, their fourth place in Tokyo 1964 being their best result at the Games so far.

They’ve reached the quarter-finals in their last two participations – in Tokyo 2020 and London 2012 – and have an experienced coach at the helm in Rogerio Micale, who guided Brazil to Olympic gold at Rio 2016.

Egypt qualified for Paris 2024 by finishing as runners-up in the U23 Africa Cup of Nations last year in Morocco, and they landed in Group C at these Olympics alongside the Dominican Republic, Spain and Uzbekistan.

“I think Egypt will go through to the second round,” former Egypt, Tottenham and Roma striker Mido told The National ahead of the Olympics.

“We have a couple of good young talents. And we have a good coach. Micale is well-organised, he won the gold medal with Brazil before at this age-group, so he’s a man with a lot of experience.

“We have four or five good players. We have players with huge potential. We have [Mohamed] Shehata, we have Hossam Abdelmaguid, we have Omar [Fayed, who plays for Fenerbahce and is on loan to Novi Pazar]. We have a good midfield. I like the team.”

With Liverpool refusing to release Salah, Turkish side Trabzonspor holding on to Mahmoud Trezeguet, and Nantes striker Mostafa Mohamed nursing a knee injury, Micale included just two over-age players in his under-23 squad, Elneny and Zamalek midfielder Ahmed “Zizo” Sayed, instead of the permitted three.

Micale also struggled to obtain any over-age players from domestic clubs due to the fact the Egyptian Premier League is still in session, with a fierce battle underway between Al Ahly and Pyramids FC at the top of the table.

On the eve of the final training camp for Egypt’s U23 team ahead of the Olympics, EPL clubs were in a standoff with the Egyptian Football Association over the release of players.

After initially agreeing to let their U23 players join the camp, Al Ahly were not pleased to learn Pyramids FC star Ibrahim Adel was reportedly given an exception to get some extra days with his club to help them in their domestic campaign before catching up with the Olympic squad.

Disagreements over release dates took over headlines and all sports talk shows on Egyptian television before matters were resolved with the intervention of the Minister of Sport.

Adel was named Best Player of the U23 Africa Cup of Nations last year and he’ll be one to watch from the Pharaohs squad at these Olympics. The 23-year-old winger scored a brace in Egypt’s 2-1 victory over Iraq in a friendly game last week. Egypt’s build-up to the Olympics also included a 1-1 draw with Ukraine.

“I think we’re building something important with this national team,” Brazilian coach Micale recently told fifa.com in an interview.

“Expectations are high. People believe we can bring a medal back, which won’t be easy because we’re in a tough group. We’re among the top 16 nations in the world, and we’re delighted to have achieved that first objective [of qualifying].

“Now we’re going to fight for the second, which is to set our sights high and win a medal. Everyone’s free to dream after all.”

Egypt Olympic squad

Goalkeepers: Hamza Alaa, Ali El Gabry, Mohamed Seha

Defenders: Mohamed Elmaghrabi, Ahmed Sayed, Mohamed Tarek, Karim El Dabees, Hossam Abdelmaguid, Ahmed Eid

Midfielders: Mohamed Hamdy, Ziad Kamal, Mohamed Elneny, Mohamed Shehata, Ahmed Koka, Omar Fayed, Ibrahim Adel, Mahmoud Saber, Ahmed “Zizo” Sayed, Ahmed Atef, Mostafa Saad

Forwards: Bilal Mazhar, Osama Faisal

Egypt’s Group C schedule at Olympics

Wednesday July 24 – 7pm (UAE time)

Egypt v Dominican Republic – La Beaujoire Stadium, Nantes

Saturday July 27 – 7pm

Uzbekistan v Egypt – La Beaujoire Stadium, Nantes

Tuesday July 30 – 7pm

Spain v Egypt – Bordeaux Stadium