The Egyptian side, trailing 2-1 from the first leg, host Tanzania's Simba in the second leg of the African Confederation Cup third round without their regular Cameroonian keeper Kameni, who faces six months on the sidelines due to a serious knee injury.

Farag will deputize for him but if he sustains an injury or receives a red card Hodoud coach Tarek Al-Ashri will face a difficult dilemma.

In that case, Al-Ashri will have no option but to field Abdul-Ghani as a keeper, given that third-choice guardian Mohamed Saied is not registered in Hodoud's African squad.

"Abdul-Ghani will switch to the goalkeeper's role in case of emergency, but he will start up front as usual," Hodoud director Mohamed Helmi told FilGoal.com few hours before the game.

Abdul-Ghani, Hodoud's top scorer in the Egyptian Premier League with nine goals, is not entirely unfamiliar with that role.

He was used as a goalkeeper in the same competition when Hodoud faced Tunisia's Sfaxien in the group stage in September 2008.

Kameni was sent off with all three substitutions made, giving Abdul-Ghani an unexpected chance to shine after he failed to find the net.

Sfaxien were leading 1-0 but they could not double their advantage when Abdul-Ghani, who tipped over a fierce free kick with few minutes remaining, stood between the sticks.