Shaaban handed first Sweden cap

Egyptian goalkeeper Rami Shaaban played his first game for Sweden when he came on as a second half substitute against Finland in the two teams' friendly, which ended in a goalless draw on Thursday.

كتب : Amro Hassan

الجمعة، 26 مايو 2006 - 18:44
Rami Shaaban in the Sweden kit
Egyptian goalkeeper Rami Shaaban played his first game for Sweden when he came on as a second half substitute against Finland in the two teams' friendly, which ended in a goalless draw on Thursday.

The Sweden born player, whose father is Egyptian and mother is Finnish, was previously linked with talks of representing Egypt, Finland and Sweden, but he chose to play for the latter when coach Lars Lagerback surprisingly called him to play with the team in next month's World Cup.

Shaaban, Sweden’s third choice keeper, kept a clean sheet when he replaced John Alvbage, as Lagerback opted to rest some of his first choice players like Henrik Larsson, Fredrik Ljungberg, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and keeper Andres Isaksson.

Sweden is drawn in group B in the World Cup alongside England, Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago.