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Bradley, Egypt eliminated from African Cup of Nations qualifying

Bob Bradley Egypt (Getty Images)

Bob Bradley has suffered his first big disappointment as head coach of Egypt.

The Pharoahs failed to qualify for the 2013 African Cup of Nations on Saturday after a 1-1 draw with Central African Republic in the second leg of their first-round qualifier. The first leg was played two weeks ago and ended with Central African Republic winning, 3-2.

Egypt's hopes of overturning that deficit took a blow midway through the first half as Central African Republic opened the scoring, further building on their lead. The Egyptians never really got back into it, with their goal coming in the 71st minute.

Bradley had Egypt on a 14-game winning streak before these two African Cup of Nations qualifiers, but the loss means there is now even more pressure on the American head coach to guide the Pharoahs into the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Egypt currently has six points from two games in the second round of World Cup qualifying.

Here are the match highlights:

 

What do you think of Egypt not qualifying for the African Cup of Nations? Surprised they could not overturn the deficit against Central African Republic? Expecting Bradley to help them bounce back and reach the World Cup?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. wow, i like bradley, but 14 wins or not, when you can’t beat CAF in either game, much less in aggregate, you can NOT say he has done a “fantastic” job. he has been able to win (14 times) in the impossible situation and against better opposition. again, i like bradley, but when the chips were down he (meaning the team for which he is responsible) did not get it done and that is what he is paid for.

    it would be great for egypt to keep faith but to fire him at this point seems COMPLETELY justified, if a bit short sighted.

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  2. Here’s the reality.

    Bradley lost a game that got them knocked out of a tournament that Egypt has already won recently. Given the situation Bradley is playing with one hand tied behind his back.

    Bradley was hired to get them to the World cup, a goal that is still within reach.

    They may fire him because the people who hired him have lost power, or maybe they don’t want an American manager any more.
    Whatever the reason, it wouldn’t be for good solid football reasons. Andf I’d love to see who would have the balls to take on that job if they do can BB.

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  3. Bob was hired with one objective in mind, qualify for the World Cup.

    He might get canned because of the politics of the situation in the country but in football terms Bob has done a fantastic job in an impossible situation.

    Anyone who thinks football in Egypt is halfway sane after the Port Said situation
    is crazy.

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  4. If you think Brett represents the average American then ask the average, and I do mean average man on the street, Central African citizen how much they really know about America.

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  5. I’m sorry, I just don’t look at World Cup 2010 as a success. They won the group, yes, but it was a very weak group, all things considered.

    Draw vs England, draw vs Slovenia, 1-0 win vs Algeria, loss to Ghana. That’s hardly an impressive run.

    If you want to argue that they should have beaten Slovenia (thanks to disallowed goal) you could just as easily argue that they should have lost to England (Green’s error) and drawn Algeria (stoppage time winner after giving Algerians multiple looks). And the loss to Ghana was very disappointing, no way around it.

    What makes it worse is that you can point to Bradley’s personnel decisions (Rico Clark, Findley, etc) and inability to stop allowing early goals as huge reasons for that failure.

    The Central African Republic is ranked 128 in the FIFA Rankings. His 2 World Cup Qualifier wins are over teams ranked 79th and 105th. Other than those two matches, the rest of that 14 match run was entirely made up of friendlies, and included wins over Uganda (82) Niger (98) Togo (100) Lebanon (112) Kenya (121) Chad (142) and Mauritania (204), and draws with Iraq (73) and Congo DR (116).

    Wins over Nigeria and Cameroon were the only two decent wins, and even those were against teams ranked below Egypt (not that FIFA rankings are the be all/end all, but they serve as a decent outline.) So I don’t put much stock in all of that.

    In any case, I’m not wishing ill upon Bob Bradley. But I’ll just say that whatever my thoughts and opinions have been on Klinsmann (and it hasn’t been universally positive) not once since last summer have I found myself wishing that US Soccer hadn’t fired Bob Bradley.

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  6. “Every player I know of who played for him at any level has nothing but good things to say about him.”

    You obviously don’t know Bobby Convey (btw Convey is a jerk who has nothing nice to say about any coach, and no one likes him)

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  7. Way too many jerks post here.

    How can anyone wish Bob Bradley ill? He is one of the most honest stand-up guys I know of. Every player I know of who played for him at any level has nothing but good things to say about him.

    If you want to fault him for putting the USA in a formation and using tactics that successfully defeated reigning W.C Spain, was runner-up in Con.Fed. etc. OK, he could not make his team look like Barcelona, but he did put them in positions where with the talent they had they could succeed. (Success does not always come just because the team is well-prepared, and organized, but it does help and is really all a coach can do in the end.)

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  8. Prediction: Egypt fires Bradley the same week Portland gets rid of the worthless windbag that is John Spencer. Bob immediately lands the Timbers gig, and promptly goes out and purchases the nicest pair of green sweatpants money can buy.

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  9. Said in sarcasm as the best national team in the last decade uses that exact formation to get to the Euro final…

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  10. Bottom Line: Egypt just got eliminated from a tournament they could have won. If they fail to make it out of the group stages at Brazil, Bradley’s tenure will be a failure.

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  11. i post here all the time as a matter of fact…i love the way bradley jr plays but his father’s tactics r bush league at best…

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  12. that means CAF is ranked lower than Vietnam or even Thailand I think…isn’t VN or Thailand around the 108 range? Losing to CAF is disgraceful though…it’s like the USA losing to Guam or even FiJi..

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  13. I think this could be a positive for Egypt. For one reason or another they typically impressed in the Cup of Nations but struggled to qualify for World Cups. Perhaps, now, the focus can be entirely on qualification for Brazil.

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  14. And no, he said both.

    “Winning our World Cup group must be disappointing.”

    “Getting first in CONCACAF 2010 world cup qualifying must be disappointing…”

    Bradley failed. He deserves the criticism. You people that refuse to acknowledge reality drive me insane.

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  15. Um, Porter was hired by Sunil. And are you stretching so far as to reference the Olympic squad failing to qualify under Porter as an attack on Klinsmann in retort to a legitimate criticism that Bradley really screwed up with the Egyptian senior team?

    Really?

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  16. Time for bob to focus on qualifying! They are well on their way.

    I believe they play 10 games, starting with 6 pts should put them almost halfway there

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  17. He meant World Cup group, not World Cup qualifying group. The US won their World Cup group in 2010 over England, Slovenia, and Algeria. Maybe you didn’t know that…

    But if finishing first in a CONCACAF qualifying group is so easy, then how come Klinsmann’s hire (just like Aron Winter with Toronto FC), Caleb Porter, he of the famed Akron program, couldn’t even get OUT of the group stage against Cuba, Canada, and El Salvador?

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  18. Amazing quick the retards come out when a bad reusult is posted. Has this guy ever posted here? Typically this site has educated haters at least this is bush league espn status!

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  19. Really sorry to hear this.

    Assuming he’s given the time, I suppose World Cup qualifying now takes center stage (as it should).

    Good luck Bob.

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  20. There are simply no excuses for a loss like this, it’s a failure that will most likely and should cost Bradley his job.

    CAF is ranked at 121 by ELO, Egypt is 28. There are almost 100 ranking spots between the two teams.

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  21. true dat…i could probably coach our USMNT to first place in concacaf…and i could probably get results in away games too…i would just tell our players to go out and do whatever you want, and we would still win in concacaf…weak sauce

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  22. they are dangerous…they’re walking like egyptians bro…during that 14 game run, they must have played at home in an empty stadium as well…

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  23. And here comes the Bradley haterssssss……that’s right, ignore the fact that their domestic league has been suspended for a while, that Egypt is a mess right now and that …

    Im sorry Bradley brought you guys such disappointment. Losing to Brazil in the confed cup must be disappointing. Winning our World Cup group must be disappointing. Getting first in CONCACAF 2010 world cup qualifying must be disappointing…

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  24. That’s ridiculous, he had them on a 14 game unbeaten streak before this…

    The problem here is that the Egypt leg had to be played in an empty stadium, because the Egyptian government is still trying to portray the ultras as violent/dangerous when the Port Said riot was a setup. Even Azteca wouldn’t be a fortress if it was empty.

    Reply

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