Exclusive pictures of coach’s visit to Egypt’s Olympic team

Mark Wotte visits Egyptian Olympic football team Glasgow – Omar Al-Banouby Shortly after their arrival at the Scottish capital, Glasgow, the Egyptian national football Olympics delegation had a surprise visit from Dutch coach Mark Wotte,

who previously coached the Egyptian Ismaili Club, but is now the performance director at the Scottish Football Association.
In a telephone interview with Arabstoday, Wotte had revealed his intention to visit the Egyptian football delegation to see the players, especially the ones he trained including the Italian Fiorentina centre-back player Ahmed Hegazy and ex-Sheffield United right wing player Ahmed Fathy.
The ex-Holland national team coach shook hands with the Egyptian national team players and caught up with Ahmed Hegazy, Ahmed Fathy and Mohamed Aboutrika, who he gave encouragement to in preparation for a decisive game with Belarus Wednesday, which would decide whether the pharaohs team will qualify to the second round of the London 2012 Olympics or exit for good.
Wotte told Arabstoday that he gave some advice to back player Hegazy whom he trained at Ismaili, revealing that he played a major part in the deal to move Hegazy to the Italian Fiorentina, using his good relations with Viola management.

As for the Olympics, the ex- English Southampton coach met Hani Abu Rida, a FIFA Executive Committee member and the most prominent candidate to head the Egyptian Football Association in its next term. The two discussed the future of Egyptian football, wishing Abu Rida luck in the EFA elections.
Wotte also met the American Bob Bradley, coach for the Egyptian national team and discussed the pharaohs’ march to the Brazil 2014 world cup finals, and the Dutch team’s early exit at the EURO 2012.
Wotte mentioned that this was not his first meeting with Bradley, as they had met more than 12 years back during the American national team’s visit to the Dutch Utrecht club while Wotte was the Utrecht coach and Bradley was an assistant coach in the US national team.
The ex-Dutch Olympics team coach said that he hoped the Egyptian team will make it to the second round of the Olympics, adding that the pharaohs have many talented players who have a bright future ahead in football.
The Egyptian Olympics team beat its Belarusian counterpart 3-1 Wednesday on Hampden Park in the Scottish capital.

The Egyptian team comes third in its group after Brazil and Belarus with one point after its tie with the New Zealand team and loss before the Brazilian team.
Wotte was a candidate to succeed Hassan Shehata in coaching the Egyptian national team after Shehata’s dismissal following the failure to reach the African Cup finals in Guinea and Gabon 2012.