Egypt demand apology

Egypt's contingent head Mahmoud Taher is demanding a full apology from South African newspaper Sunday World for triggering 'baseless accusations' against the Egyptian players.

كتب : Sherif Tarek

الإثنين، 22 يونيو 2009 - 15:24
Egypt's contingent head Mahmoud Taher is demanding a full apology from South African newspaper Sunday World for triggering 'baseless accusations' against the Egyptian players.

Egypt skipper Ahmed Hassan reported the theft of some wallets from his teammates' hotel rooms on Friday, only several hours after the Pharaohs' historic 1-0 win over Italy In the FIFA Confederations Cup.

Later on, some local papers, Sunday World including, reported that the Egyptians spent the night with hookers at the hotel, suggesting that they stole the players' personal possessions before leaving.

"The newspaper that published this allegation and the South African police both owe us apologies," Taher told FilGoal.com.

"If they don't apologize, we will sue Sunday World for libel and also take legal actions against the police department.

"We didn't want to make a big deal out what happened, we didn't even report the burglary to the police and just informed the organizing committee of it.

"Taking anyone to court is actually our last resort."

Late on Sunday, Ayman Esawi, an Egyptian fan who checked into the same hotel where Egypt's contingent is hosted, assured that Sunday World's claim is 'absolute rubbish'.

Resignation

When asked about recently-spread rumors that Egypt coach Hassan Shehata handed in his resignation, Taher said: "Everybody is upset over the way the Egyptian media dealt with that fake story as if it was true.

"But none of the coaching staff members stepped down from his role."

Amr Adib, who presents the infamous Al-Qahera Al-Youm talk show in Orbit TV, branded Egypt players 'unclean' following their humiliating 3-0 defeat to the US in the Confederations Cup.

Apparently, he regarded the African champions' lackluster performance as evidence that the sex scandal is not made up.

After Adib made numerous insulting comments on the Egyptian national side, Egypt captain Hassan, Mohamed Abou-Treika and Shehata phoned in respectively to blame him for his offensiveness.

"Those players are very respectful, they can't do that. We pray five times a day and always act properly off the pitch," Abou-Treika, a devoted Muslim who is widely acclaimed by media for his good manners, told the controversial presenter.

"You have the right to criticize us in terms of tactics but you don't have the right to talk about our morals."