England v Egypt

England face one of their final warms ups en route to the World Cup in South Africa when they play host to Egypt in an international friendly. The visiting Egyptians did not qualify for this year’s tournament despite having won the last three African Cup of Nations.

Fabio Capello’s England outfit were very strong in qualifying for the World Cup. In a group that included Croatia and the Ukraine, England were able to finish with 9 wins and 1 loss with a very impressive 34 goals scored and just 6 conceded and won the group outright by 6 points. However, they have struggled in friendly matches against top sides over the last few months as evidenced by a draw with Holland and losses to Spain and Brazil. Among the notable call ups for this contest are Stewart Downing, Ryan Shawcross, Leighton Baines and Stephen Warnock.

Egypt manager Hassan Shehata are coming off of their 3rd straight win in the African Cup of nations which took place in January in Angola. Prior to that they had just missed out on the World Cup after losing to Algeria in a playoff match by a score of 1-0 after the two teams had played to identical points totals in the group phase. Among the notable call ups for this game are captain Ahmed Hassan who has 173 caps, and Hull City’s Amr Zaki.

Live International Friendly
England v Egypt
Wembley Stadium, kick off 2000 hours