كتب : Omar AbdelAziz
Despite the announcement that the match will be against Kenya’s seniors, it turned out that the Pharaohs are facing an Olympic team at Al-Gharrafa Stadium.
It was a mere walk in the park for Bob Bradley’s men, who easily handed the American coach his first win with the team.
Mohamed Salah and Ahmed Hassan scored before the break as substitutes Ahmed Eid, Ahmed Khairi and Ahmed Abdul-Zaher came off the bench to add more goals.
Several players made their debut for Egypt, including starters Bassem Ali and Ahmed Temsah, while Ashour Al-Taqui and Osama Ragab were introduced after the break.
Practice match!
The game was anything but a contest, with Essam Al-Hadari - back in goal for Egypt - hardly moving a muscle between the posts throughout the 90 minutes.
Promising forward Salah opened the scoring after nine minutes, curling home superbly after some good work by Arab Contractors teammate Ali, who impressed on his Egypt debut.
Seven minutes later, Salah won a penalty that was emphatically converted by skipper Hassan into the roof of the net.
Once again, the celebration was muted by the midfield veteran, who had a message typed on his under-shirt to the victims of the Port-Said disaster.
Eid came off the bench to win another penalty and convert it himself on 73 minutes, with defender Anthony Agay harshly sent off in the process.
Harras Hodoud ace Eid then set up the fourth goal for Khairi, who easily tapped home in an empty net for his first international strike.
ENPPI forward Abdul-Zaher completed the rout after working hard to come off the ground and find the net.
Egypt could have easily scored more goals, but the seven-time African champs seemed to be anything but excited amid the poor display of their opposition.