Mustafa Abdel Raouf "Ziko", the Egyptian national team player, emphasized the difficulty of Egypt's match against South Sudan despite winning by five goals.
The Egyptian national team defeated South Sudan 5-0 in the second round of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Ziko said via On Sport: "The match against South Sudan was very difficult due to the high temperature and artificial turf."
He added, "We were preparing well for this match after facing Angola in order to achieve victory."
He continued, "It is unacceptable for Egypt to lose many points in two consecutive matches, so we wanted to win and achieved a big victory."
He concluded his statements, "We will now focus on the match against South Africa. We do not distinguish between friendly or official matches, and we want to win to end the camp positively."
Mohamed Salah, the Trabzonspor Turkish player, and Mohamed Abdelmonem, the Nice French player, were absent from the Egyptian national team in the match because it was played on an artificial turf stadium.
Egypt's goals were scored by Omar Marmoush (two goals), Ziko, Ibrahim Adel, and Hamza Abdel Karim.
The Egyptian national team raised its tally to 4 points in the group, following a goalless draw with Angola in the first round.
