If Egypt put up their usual glowing display on Sunday and beat Ghana to win the coveted trophy their coach Hassan Shehata will become the first manager to win three consecutive championships.
Egypt do not mince words as to their expectation, it may sound like a boast but Ghana should be wise not to take the threat therein with a wave of the hand.
Thursday’s 4-0 wipe out of eight-man Algeria put the six-time champions into Sunday’s final against a Ghana side that has overcome a spate of injuries to star players to make their first final in 18 years.
One of Egypt’s goal scorers in the 4-0 whitewash of Algeria in the semi-finals, Mohamed Zidan, said: “We were one million times better than Algeria. We haven’t won five games here in this competition to lose the final.”
Captain Ahmed Hassan, in his 171st international outings, warned Ghana to expect more of the same silky smooth football from the African champions.
“Against Ghana we will continue to play as we have started. We don’t care how they play, we are here to defend our title, and we’ll do everything to succeed.
“Our 4-0 win over Algeria has proved we are the best team in Africa, without argument.
“It wasn’t a question of revenge against Algeria (for the World Cup play-off defeat in November). I told my players before the semi-final that you are the best and what you have to do is prove it on the pitch.
“We don’t care about the World Cup and losing the play-off to Algeria, we put ourselves in that position after dropping two points against Zambia in an earlier qualifier.
“Anyway we are now seeing the fruits of our effort here.”
Egypt coach Hassan Shehata was purring over the Pharoahs’ latest imperious performance.
“We retained our dignity with this win, we proved our strong image. I tried to do the best with the players I’ve got (Egypt like Ghana are missing some key players to injury).”
Sunday’s climax will be a fascinating clash between the champions whose defence and attack is rock solid and the Black Stars’ mix of Under-20 World Champions thrust into the spotlight and a smattering of experienced players.
Egypt, unbeaten in the Africa Cup of Nations now for a record 18 games, arrive in Luanda from Benguela later Friday, with a training session planned to hold late Saturday.
Ghana are already in town and trained Friday morning as Serb coach Milovan Rajevic maps out his blueprint to topple the continetal champions for what would be the west African country’s fifth title.