Lagos, Nigeria - Egypt is among the teams favoured to finish in the top three of the CAF Under-23 Championship and qualify for the men's football event of the 2012 London Olympics, according to the team's head coach Hany Ramzy. Egypt is grouped alongside Gabon, Cote d'Ivoire and South Africa at the championship, billed to hold 26 Nov.-10 Dec. in Morocco. 'I expect it will be a very hard-fought tournament. All eight sides are looking to progress and qualify for London 2012. Moreover, they all play outstanding football, in particular Nigeria, who have a lot of experience at Olympic football tournaments,' Ramzy said in an interiew with CAF's official website, cafonline.com.

The coach also said he would not under-rate any of the team's in his group, since they are all 'technically very gifted'.

Ramzy said the team's matches in the last stage of the qualifying series for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, when it stood in for the national team in the matches against Sierra Leone and Nigeria, marked a good experience for the wards.

'I was very pleased. I thought the benefits of facing a side like Sierra Leone outweighed losing to them 2-1. We benefited in terms of skill and fitness, not to mention the experience of travelling abroad, the nerves, and playing in front of a packed stadium.

'The 3-0 victory over Niger restored the team’s self-belief, especially since Niger ended up qualifying from that group. It was Egypt’s first and only win in the qualifiers and all credit to the youngsters and the coaching staff. It was the perfect start to our preparations for the qualifying campaign for London 2012.

Pana 24/11/2011