Mido Predicts Côte d’Ivoire and Egypt at Final (17.01.2006)
The 22-year-old is confident the host nation has a strong team that will lift the African title for a record fifth time.
Egypt striker Ahmed `Mido` Hossam believes Ivory Coast will be in the final of the Nations Cup tournament. "I think Egypt will play Ivory Coast in the final," Mido told the Egyptian weekly Al-Fajr.
Egypt will first confront Ivory Coast on 28 January in a very competitive group A, which also includes Morocco and Libya.
Mido described the Ivorian squad, captained by striker Didier Drogba, as "the best prepared team on the continent." But the 22-year-old, who features for English Premiership side Tottenham Hotspur, is
confident the host nation has a strong team that will lift the African title for a record fifth time.
Victory for Egypt would help to assuage the feelings of fans still hurt by the country`s failure to qualify for the World Cup finals in Germany. "We have to dream and be optimistic, there`s no point in crying over spilt milk," said Mido.
Although commentators in Egypt have been critical of their Nations Cup squad, predicting it would struggle to go beyond the group stages, Mido insists his colleagues will go all the way. "Playing in front of our fans will make a tremendous difference. In addition, we have a very strong team that can win any competition," he said.
