FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament Team Review: Egypt

FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament Team Review: Egypt

Coach Rödl Calls for Better Preparations as Egypt's Olympic Dream Crashes

Egyptian men's national team, affectionately known as the Pharaohs, were bundled out of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament after losing their two group game. Pitted against hosts Greece and the Dominican Republic, the Henrik Rödl-coached side fell 90-77 to the latter in the first game before going down 93-71 to the Kostas Papanikolaou-powered Greeks.

With that, the North Africans were out of an Olympic slot contention as the two sides advanced the semis. The winner of the tournament qualifies for the Paris Games. Despite the setback, coach Rödl is full of praise for his relatively young squad that had to make do without the services of former NBA star Abdel Nader who was expected to debut for the side as well as mainstays Ehab Amin and Assem Marei. All three were ruled out due to injury.

"This team had done a good job in Africa and at the World Cup last year. Continuing the same trend in the OQTs, is a great achievement," Rödl offered adding that with better preparation the team would have done better.

With the Egypt's Men's Premier League A concluding on June 13th, the playcaller barely had time to prepare his squad for the assignment in Greece, admitting that contributed to the team's performance.

"We need our best players for each assignment and losing three towards the OQTs due to injuries picked during the league was a blow. A long local season denied us an opportunity to prepare for a longer period and it showed. The players did not have time to recover ahead of the trip to Greece as well," the tactician explained.

Watch Egypt vs Dominican Republic Game Highlights Below

Despite the many challenges, the German is optimistic the youth programs that have propelled the Junior teams to great exploits will soon translate to a squad careies no underdog tag internationally.

"We have a young squad and the talents coming in from the junior levels have a remarkable future. They need is to continue establishing themselves and soon Egypt will be a force on the global stage," Rödl predicted.

Ahmed Metwaly was one of the standout players for the Pharaohs, emerging top scorer in both his side's matches. He sunk 24 points, dishing three assists and as many steals, in just over 27 minutes, against the Dominican Republic.

He doubled down on his performance against the hosts, again becoming the top scorer with 22 points in 23.34 minutes on the floor against a star-studded squad.

Meanwhile, 25-year-old Patrick Gardener who was instrumental in Egypt's run at the first window of the AfroBasket Qualifiers where they finished second to Côte d’Ivoire failed to dazzle as the Long Island Nets centre was restricted to six and three points in 18 and 19 minutes on the floor, respectively.

[Photography / Imagery Courtesy of FIBA]