Despite holding the record for most CAN triumphs with five titles, the local football-crazed fans still feel their country are nowhere near matching their continent's competitors.

The pessimists insist Egypt won two successive tournaments just when Africa began to define football back in the late 1950s. But they have to be aware the Pharaohs clinched three titles in 1986, 1998 and 2006 when competition was fierce.

Some fans also believe teams like Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Nigeria always have the advantage because they have many players plying their trade in Europe.

But it is not an incontestable fact.

It is true these teams have several stars who are regulars in very powerful teams in England, Italy and Spain.

Nevertheless, anyone can easily discover that the majority of players play in relatively small teams in countries like France, Portugal, Belgium and Greece.

On the other hand, the current squad of Egypt is rated as one of the all-time greatest generations.

Most of them are locally-based but proved they have what it takes to produce good displays on the international level.

Egypt's 2006 winning squad mainly consisted of domestic league players. These players can replicate the huge success in Ghana 2008.