Cairo - Arabstoday
Egypt national team coach Bob Bradley has requested a closed training camp outside Egypt for his team in the run-up to the 2013 tournament, threatening to resign if the request was not met. "The Egypt FA's caretaker president informed Bradley that friendly games had been canceled due to security reasons," Egypt Football Association (EFA) spokesman Azmi Megahed told Ahram Online. The EFA on Sunday announced that all the Pharaohs' current camp friendly games had been canceled following an official request to this effect by the interior ministry. "We officially contacted the Qatari FA to ask them to host the Egypt team camp," Megahed added. "We are also currently in talks with other Arab associations who might host the camp if Qatar refuses." "The Egypt FA will do their best to meet the demands of the national team's technical staff," Megahed concluded. The former United States manager was chosen from a long list of candidates - including Colombian Fancisco Maturana, Serbian Zoran Filipovi?, Frenchman Hervé Renard and Portuguese Nelo Vingada - to succeed Egypt's celebrated coach Hassan Shehata in leading the national team. Bradley will be paid ?360,000 per year. The Pharaohs are preparing for the 2013 tournament under Bradley's guidance. They were supposed to play Uganda on 23 February, three days before meeting Guinea, before taking on Niger on the last day of the month. All Egyptian football competitions were suspended, however, following the 1 February Port Said Stadium disaster that left more than 74 football fans dead and hundreds injured.