Former Egypt defender Wael Gomaa has lashed out at the Pharaohs head coach Rui Vitoria after the country’s exit from the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
The seven-time AFCON champions were dumped out in the round of 16 on Sunday after an 8-7 penalty shoot-out defeat to the Democratic Republic of Congo after playing a 1-1 draw at the end of extra time.
Egypt failed to win a game in Ivory Coast as all their matches ended in draws and they narrowly finished as second-best team in Group B with three points from three matches.
They played 2-2 draws against Mozambique, Ghana and Cape Verde in the group stage before settling for a 1-1 draw against the Leopards in the knock-out phase.
Egypt who are yet to win the AFCON trophy since 2010, conceded seven goals in four matches to the displeasure of three-time AFCON winner, Gomaa.
“Since the beginning of the tournament, I have said that we have a very good team,” Gomaa said via KingFut. “The current team’s average age and capabilities qualify us to win the title. All the positions have good players.
“We suffered from mishandling by Rui Vitoria, who is responsible for the players. He brought out the worst in them and did not help them to perform well.
“Unfortunately, it’s the worst football I have seen from the Egyptian national team in my life. How could you qualify with four draws? We couldn’t win any match.”
The 48-year-old who played over 110 matches for Egypt, also blamed Vitoria for his lack of knowledge about African football having spent majority of his coaching career in Portugal.
Gomaa continued: “His changes were pointless, player after player, there was no creativity in dealing with the game. Our path to the final was the easiest.
“If we had won, we would have faced Guinea but we hired a coach to teach him about Africa. We brought in a coach to teach him how to deal with African football.
“A major loss and our Egypt’s name does not deserve that. Everyone involved in this farce must be held accountable.”
Egypt were runners-up at 2021 AFCON after losing to Senegal via penalty shoot-out in the final. The last time they were knocked out in the round of 16 was at the 2019 AFCON which was hosted in Egypt.
