The African champions may or may not bounce back from their frustrating losses in the not-too-distant future.

But since the Cairo giants are the main provider of Egyptian internationals, the unsuccessful campaign in Japan is likely to reflect on the national team in a negative manner.

The Club World Cup was more or less a challenging test for a good number of Egypt's footballers, and they didn't exactly pass with flying colors.

The Red Devils' unsatisfying outcome in the elite tournament sounded alarm bells ahead of the final 2010 World Cup qualifiers as well as other pivotal fixtures for the national team.

Egypt theoretically have a substantial chance of reaching the World Cup for the first time since 1990, after being drawn alongside Algeria, Zambia and Rwanda in the final qualifying stage.

But the Club World Cup has shown that some of Ahli and Egypt players still lack the necessary features to compete on a global scale.

The Egyptian champions would have given Hassan Shehata's men an indirect boost if they had claimed a decent place in the CWC, but unfortunately they finished sixth.

Now losing more self-esteem as a result of recurrent losses would seriously jeopardize the pharaohs' qualification prospects.

The out-and-out failure in the Club World Cup most probably wouldn't be the only morale-damaging experience in the short term.

More disappointments seem inevitable, as Egypt are taking on World champions Italy, Flamboyant Brazil and relatively-mediocre USA in the FIFA Confederations Cup, which is getting underway next June.

Pulling off cheering results either against the Azzuri or the samba dancers is actually nothing more than a mere pipe dream. The prestigious African side are widely tipped to be destroyed in both encounters.

Slumping to a defeat to the North American team is not far-fetched as well, so the six-time African champions could be plagued with a lengthy losing streak midway in the qualifiers final phase.

Suffering a succession of losses at that time would be greatly destructive for the national team, especially after Ahli's substandard displays in Japan.

Not only could more losses cause level deterioration, but they would also encourage opponents to take advantage of a downcast outfit.

Even African underdogs could then turn into optimistic opportunists, and qualifying for the World Cup could suddenly become miles away from happening.

For this reason, Egypt need to keep their sprit up by embarking on a positive run over the next few months to overshadow Ahli's World Cup disappointment, which would entail an uphill struggle.