Ahmed Abdelaziz "Al-Kass", head coach of the Egypt under-17 national football team, confirmed that the Pharaohs' ambition at the ongoing World Cup in Qatar is to continue the journey as far as possible. "We lost our first match in the North African qualifiers for the African Nations Cup, then we came back strong and topped the qualifiers. Then we lost the first two matches in the finals but we qualified for the World Cup through the playoffs, so our first match against Haiti was very difficult. We focused on winning it and that's what happened even though we missed many chances," he said. The former international (112 international matches, 25 goals) continued, "Against Venezuela, we were落后 by a goal and played with ten men, but we managed to draw and held strong against a very strong team that I tip to go far in the tournament. We lost to England in the third round, but we played a good game despite the result and could have gotten a draw." He jokingly said that he told the players before the match that they needed to beat England for revenge for his loss as a player against his country's first team in the 1990 World Cup, but "the jinx continued," as he put it. The coach, who took over in 2023 after managing clubs like El-Olympy, Abu Qir Fertilizers, Damietta, and Al-Canal, explained, "The England team is European champion and facing them was extremely difficult, but this team is in a learning phase and gaining experience, and I believe we benefited a lot even from the loss." Al-Kass confirmed, "This is a generation of rising players, and my first mission is to build a different generation off the field before it becomes distinguished on it." He added that the match against Switzerland is difficult as they have proven to be one of the strongest teams in the tournament, but they will do their best to continue their journey. He also expressed pride in his players and hopes that this generation will soon get a chance to play for their first teams in their clubs. Egypt secured its spot in the second round as one of the best eight third-placed teams.
