Hossam Hassan, the technical director of the Egyptian national team, revealed the behind-the-scenes of what happened between him and the Pharaohs players between the halves of the Australia match in the round of 32 of the 2026 World Cup.
This comes after the Egyptian national team fell behind during the first half events, before scoring the equalizer in the second half, resorting to extra time, and then winning on penalties.
Hossam Hassan said in statements via On channel: "I was worried about the match against Australia, and this worry was due to the win over New Zealand, I expected some confidence from the players, and I warned them between the halves against overconfidence, I expected the players to be more focused than that".
He added: "I told the players that I could substitute any of them, and asked them to forget this half completely, and it is necessary to integrate into the second half, I felt that the players appreciated the responsibility and saw them talking to each other while going down for the second half".
He continued: "I told the players that they didn't present anything and that the public has the right to be happy, I reminded them of the Egyptian fans and children and all the people present in America and in Egypt in order to appear well, the first half against Australia was not bad in general but there was some shortcoming in terms of the level we are used to and possession".
Hossam Hassan spoke about the most prominent methods he used to motivate the players in the tournament, saying: "One of the most prominent methods of motivating the players was reminding them of the October 1973 war and the Bar Lev Line, I told them that the enemy said at the time that it was an invincible line, before we achieved our great victory".
He concluded: "I was trying to make the Egyptian national team have a personality regardless of the opponent and this is the basis of our work not to think about the opponent, any team from the national team that we faced I did not name it but I used to say our own opponent, and I did not mention Messi's name because mentioning his name creates awe for the Egyptian national team players but I used to call him the number 10 player".
