Americans to face Egypt in Cairo friendly

The United States will visit Egypt for a football friendly against the reigning Africa Cup of Nations champions on February 9 at Cairo, the US Soccer Federation announced Monday.

The Americans have beaten the seven-time Africa Cup winners in their only prior meetings, the most recent a 3-0 triumph over the Pharoahs at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa.

The other US triumph also came at a neutral venue, a 3-1 victory at Seoul in 1987.

US coach Bob Bradley was excited about the chance for the American side to play a first-ever match in Egypt ahead of next June’s Gold Cup tournament, the North American continental championship.

“Egypt is an extremely talented and competitive team,” Bradley said. “Their performances in the Confederations Cup and the Africa Cup of Nations have demonstrated their ability to challenge the top teams in the world.

“To play against the champions of Africa in what will be a fantastic environment in Cairo is a great opportunity.”

The Americans open their 2011 campaign on January 22 against Chile at Los Angeles.

The Pharoahs, ranked 10th in the world by FIFA, went undefeated to win this year’s Africa Cup of Nations with Mohamed Nagy scoring five goals and captain Ahmed Hassan being named player of the tournament.

However, unlike the United States they failed to qualify for the World Cup finals, losing in a play-off to bitter rivals Algeria.