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Step aside, Lothar Egypt's Hassan sets world record with 151 caps
Updated: Tuesday January 09, 2001 3:47 PM
CAIRO (Reuters) -- Hossam Hassan of Egypt became the most capped soccer player of all time on Tuesday when he made his 151st international appearance in a 3-1 friendly win against Zambia. "It's a great achievement, for which I'm happy because it is set by an Egyptian and Arab player rather than by Hossam Hassan," the 34-year-old striker told Reuters. The previous record of 150 was set at Euro 2000 by Germany's Lothar Matthäus, who has since retired from the international scene. "I always feel under pressure to improve my performance," added Hassan, the scorer of more than 50 international goals. He failed to score on Tuesday but tested the Zambian goalkeeper and also set up Egypt's third goal. "The figure in itself is not important. I must deserve it and remain influential on the ground. What matters is quality rather than quantity," said Hassan, who plays his club football for Cairo club Zamalek. "I love soccer very much and train very well. Every year I feel I'm better technically and physically despite the fact that the older the player, the weaker his performance." Asked how long he could keep the record, Hassan said: "This depends totally on ambition and determination. Thank God, I possess these qualities." Tuesday's match signaled the start of a hectic month for Egypt, which faces an African Nations Cup qualifier at home to neighbor Libya on January 14. The Egyptians are then due to play China and Iran in a tournament in Tehran from January 17-19 and host North Korea in a friendly in Cairo on January 23. They also have a World Cup qualifier against Morocco on January 28. Hassan is expected to feature in almost all the matches, having maintained his consistent form since fighting his way back into the Egyptian side three years ago. Egypt's national team manager Mahmoud al-Gohary said Hassan had set the world record because of his dedication and great love of soccer -- and still had further to go. "He has a very quiet social life and his thinking is focused only on soccer," Gohary told Reuters. "He's very serious in training, very sincere at matches." The coach said that reaching the 2002 World Cup finals would be a strong incentive for Hassan to continue. "If we reach the World Cup finals, Hossam will get a 'high injection of vitamins' for his performance to continue. "You will see him as a newborn. Failing in this will deeply affect him." Click here for a list of the world's 20 most capped players. Injured Okocha will miss Nigeria's Nations Cup matchLAGOS -- Nigeria midfielder Austin "Jay-Jay" Okocha said he would miss Saturday's African Nations Cup qualifying match against Zambia due to an injury. "I'm nursing a leg injury and won't be available," Okocha, who plays for French club Paris Saint Germain, said on Tuesday. His absence adds to the worries of team coach Jo Bonfrere who is still awaiting many of the invited players at his training camp. Only 13 of the 25-man squad trained on Tuesday morning. After the session, the team bus broke down and some players hitched a ride in an ambulance to their hotel. Others traveled in their own cars. Dutchman Bonfrere and some of the players have refused to stay in the team's official hotel in Ota town, some 40 kilometers from Lagos, saying it is substandard. The group are staying in a Lagos hotel and the Nigerian Football Association said the rest of the team would move there on Thursday. "It's frustrating to prepare for an important match like this," Bonfrere said. Nigeria, with four points, leads the four-team group which also includes Madagascar and Namibia. Two teams will qualify for the 16-team 2002 tournament in Mali Nigeria probes Olympic performanceLAGOS -- The Nigerian Olympic Committee has set up an inquiry to probe the country's performance at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. The inquiry is similar to that which investigated a run of poor performances by the national soccer teams in 2000, including the under-23 team that competed at the Sydney Olympics. Nigeria, winner of the soccer gold at the 1996 Olympics, was beaten 4-1 by Chile in the quarterfinals in Sydney. "Ours is a self-cleansing exercise and we want to learn from the mistakes made in all the sports that Nigeria took part in Sydney," Abdul-Razak Adeagbo, head of the three-man panel, told a news conference on Tuesday in Lagos. He said his panel had the mandate to investigate Nigeria's preparations and to expose lapses during the Games. "We will also investigate any misuse of funds meant for participation in the Games and as well suggest how Nigeria can improve on its performance in future Olympics." Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo set a target of five Olympic gold medals for the team but it could only win three silvers. At the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Nigeria won two gold, two silver and two bronze medals. The panel is expected to submit its report by the end of February. McCarthy joins withdrawals from South Africa squadJOHANNESBURG -- Benni McCarthy on Tuesday became the latest player to withdraw through injury from South Africa's squad for Saturday's African Nations Cup qualifier in Mauritius. Officials confirmed that McCarthy, who plays in Spain for Celta Vigo, had joined midfielders Quinton Fortune and Thabo Mngomeni in pulling out. Fortune is to undergo surgery on his right knee, which he damaged playing for Manchester United against Ipswich Town in the English Premier League last month. Mngomeni, who was expected to captain the team in the absence of Lucas Radebe, hurt himself training with his club Orlando Pirates last week. Phil Masinga, who plays for Italian club Bari, will captain the side for the first time. Coach Carlos Queiroz named just one replacement on Tuesday, calling up uncapped midfielder Tebeho Mokoena from Jomo Cosmos. African roundupMOROCCO -- Oscar Fullone, the Argentine trainer who won back-to-back African Champions League titles, has returned to Morocco to take over as coach of Wydad Casablanca, officials confirmed on Tuesday. Wydad fired Ukrainian trainer Youri Sebastianko at the weekend. Fullone, who has been working in the United Arab Emirates, was coach of Ivorian club ASEC Abidjan when it won the Champions League in 1998 and won the trophy again with Raja Casablanca the following year. He left Raja in January last year just before it was due to play in the Club World Championship in Brazil.TANZANIA -- Tanzania's three entrants in this year's African club competitions have been told they can only play if the FIFA ban on the east African country is lifted by March 15. The Confederation of African Football said at the weekend it would not allow Young Africans to play in the African Champions League, Simba SC to compete in the African Cup Winners' Cup or Mtibwa Sugar to enter the CAF Cup if the ban was still in place. FIFA last October suspended Tanzania for the illegal sacking of the country's football association leaders. The officials were replaced by government appointees while former chairman Muhiddin Ndolanga is being tried in Dar-es-Salaam for alleged theft of association funds. DR CONGO -- Former national team goalkeeper Robert Kazadi Mwamba has been voted as the Democratic Republic of Congo's athlete of the millennium in a poll of the nation's sports journalists. Kazadi, who died three years ago, won two African Nations Cup titles with the former Zaire and two African Champions Cup crowns with TP Englebert of Lubumbashi in the late 1960s. He played for Zaire in its only World Cup finals appearance in 1974, conceding nine goals in three games. Against Yugoslavia in Gelsenkirchen, where Zaire was beaten 9-0, Kazadi was replaced after allowing four goals in the opening 22 minutes. BOTSWANA -- Super League club Extension Gunners has been banned from playing home matches at its Lobatse stadium following recent violence at two of the club's games. It has also been fined following the disruptions, league officials announced on Monday. The club said it had identified some of the violent supporters and that they would "have to answer a few questions," according to club official Margy Oageng. ZIMBABWE -- Six clubs relegated from Zimbabwe's premier league last year to reduce the size of the top flight are challenging their mass demotion. Former champions Black Aces are among the six who have hired a Harare lawyer to fight their case. The Herald newspaper said the clubs were contesting the decision on the grounds that the Zimbabwe Football Association violated its own constitution by relegating more than two clubs at the end of the season. The Zimbabwean league has now been cut down to 16 clubs, with the new season due to start next month.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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