Pharaohs of Egypt open their FIFA Arab Cup account with a laborious 1-0 defeat of Lebanon in one of the two Group D matches at the Al Thumama Stadium in Qatar.
Great thanks to a 71st minute penalty kick converted by Mohamed Ashfa.
That was enough to give Egypt a winning start and a boost to their quest of garnering points to fall within the African top five in the FIFA ranking ahead of the draw for play-off for the World Cup draw scheduled for either 22 or 26 January.
At the moment, Egypt are in the sixth position with just a thin line separating them from the fifth placed Nigeria who have no competitive match in view ahead of the next FIFA ranking scheduled for 16 December.
Before the next ranking, Egypt still have at least four more competitive matches in view to build up on.
First they will face Sudan on Saturday in what will be a teaser to what should be expected when the two teams meet again at the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon next month.
Sudan lost 4-0 their opening Group D duel of the Arab Cup to the rampaging Algerian side
at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium on Wednesday.
Both African football giants, Algeria and Egypt will clash in final group game next week Tuesday.
