El-Deraa biding his time after frustrating draw

Egypt playmaker Yehia El-Deraa was keen to focus on the positives after his side conceded a last-second equaliser against France on Wednesday evening.

“I’m thankful for our performance because we learned from what happened in the last game against Denmark. You can fall but the most important thing is to learn from your mistakes.

“We were winning and controlling for most of the game but in the end, we’re playing against France. We were not lucky with some shots, we were not lucky with some decisions and this is the sport,” says El-Deraa, who scored three goals for the African champions.

Egypt had their chances to pull clear in the final quarter but a series of wasted opportunities left the door open for France to claw their way back and claim their first point of the campaign.

“We had two or three clear fast breaks that we missed, so maybe it’s not meant to be right now. In the end, a draw might be to our benefit. We still have two fights ahead of us and I am optimistic.”

Controlling emotions

As opposed to the loss to Denmark, Egypt looked in control from the first whistle. When asked what the difference was tonight, El-Deraa looked inwards:

“Of course, we respect everyone in front of us but we’re here to compete and we can’t put such a high level of respect for the opponent that you forget about yourself, that you have a great team and you keep getting closer. We had the belief and fire from the beginning of the game and kept control of our emotions.”

The draw sees Egypt sit third in group B with three points ahead of their final preliminary round games against Norway and Argentina.