Africa’s football giant Egypt has named Rwanda and Zambia as the major obstacles in their pursuit of a place at the finals of the 2010 World Cup and Nations Cup in South Africa and Angola respectively.

Egypt assistant Coach Shawky Gharib told filgoal.com that Amavubi Stars and Chipolopolo have the ability to jeopardize The Pharaohs’ chances of securing a 2010 World Cup spot.

Egypt is drawn against Algeria, Zambia and Rwanda in the qualifiers’ final phase group, and Gharib is convinced that teams with nothing to lose will pose the biggest threat.

"I believe we were drawn in a balanced group where all teams have equal chances of making it to the World Cup,”

"Algeria is a team with great history, but I don’t think they will be our sole competitors.

Gharib is convinced that unlike Algeria, both Zambia and Rwanda will play their qualifiers without any pressure as no one expects them to reach the World Cup.

"Zambia and Rwanda are not fighting for their reputation and it will not be considered a failure if they don’t qualify.

"Smaller teams like these don’t have a particular style of play and it can be very difficult to play against them.”

Egypt opens their third round qualification campaign against Zambia on march 29 in Cairo while Rwanda face Algeria in Kigali a day earlier.

Rwanda’s qualifier against the Pharaohs was scheduled for June 10 but it’s likely to change owing to the fact that Egypt will face Algeria on June 7 in Algiers, days before the Fifa Confederation Cup gets underway in Johannesburg, South Africa.

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