Egypt great Hossam Hassan disagrees with foreign coach search

The Egypt great had been linked with the Pharaohs job before the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) narrowed their search to foreign coaches.

Former Egypt international forward Hossam Hassan has expressed anger at the EFA’s decision to overlook local coaches in preference to foreigners in their hunt for Hector Cuper’s replacement.

Cuper was fired in the wake of a disastrous World Cup campaign in which Egypt lost all three games in Russia.

Former Egypt defender Hazem Emam has been part of the search which is expected to end soon with Morocco coach Herve Renard emerging as the favourite.

“With respect to everyone, Hazem is like a little brother to me, but is it logical to rely on him to determine who will be coaching the Egyptian national team?” Hassan was quoted as saying by Kingfut.

“Hazem Emam has traveled to France to look for foreign high-wage earners such as Renard. I do not know why we are insisting on hiring foreign coaches.

“Hany Abou-Rida (EFA president) ignored big names such as Taha Ismail, Mahmoud Saad, Farouk Gafar and Hassan Shehata, as he is determined on costing Egypt millions of pounds to hire a new foreign coach.

“The new coach should be chosen by the Egyptian fans, the critics and the experts. We need someone to lead this nation from those who played for the Egyptian team back in the 90s.

“I would like to thank all those who believed I could lead the national team. We have to give an opportunity to an Egyptian coach, just like we previously relied on Mahmoud El Gohary and Hassan Shehata.”

Following their World Cup nightmare, Egypt now focus on the Africa Cup of Nations qualification by hosting Niger in September.

The new coach will be seeking to recover after a false start which saw them lose to Tunisia in their Group J opening match.