Youssef announces starting lineup for Esperance clash

الخميس، 04 مايو 2006 - 20:58

كتب : Amro Hassan

Ittihad's first-leg against Esperance

Alexandria - Hani Al-Awadi: Ittihad coach Talaat Youssef announced the starting line up for his team's highly-anticipated second-leg against Esperance in the African Confederations Cup that will take place on Friday in Alexandria.

"We are looking to score against Esperance, but in the same time we go on and neglect our defense-line," Youssef told FilGoal.com exclusively on Wednesday.

"I'll concentrate on narrowing the gaps, as Esperance have at least four very highly skillful players who can pose a threat at our net at anytime," Youssef added.

The Ittihad boss also said that he will depend mainly on wingers Saied AbdelAziz and Ahmed Saleh.

Ittihad will have to maintain a two-goal lead to overcome the one goal deficit following their loss to Esperance in the first leg thanks to a Hamdi Harbaoui goal.

Ghanaian player Samuel Kyera's chances of taking part in the game are very low now, after he sustained an injury.

On the other hand, Esperance president Zouhir Aziz said that they were going to Alexandria to grab the qualification ticket for the next round.

"We have the best players in Tunisia, we proved that by being crowned as the Tunisian League champions," Aziz told FilGoal.com exclusively.

Aziz added that since they arrived in Alexandria they could see Ittihad's wide popularity in Egypt's second biggest city, pointing out that this will make the game more difficult for them.

The full Ittihad squad:

Goalkeepers: Samir Ashour

Defenders: Mohamed "Hamada" Youssef, Sherif Ghazala and Youssef Abdel-Rahim

Midfielders: Ibrahim Al-Shayeb, Hossam Abdel-Menem, Ahmed Saleh, Saied Abdel-Aziz

Strikers: Mohamed "Geddo" Ismail, Mohamed Farouk, Joshua Ezechukwu.

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