Carlos Queiroz has confirmed he’ll step down as Egypt national team coach after failing to qualify for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Just six months after being appointed as the Pharaohs coach, Queiroz took the decision to step after Egypt lost on penalties to Senegal, which saw them miss out on booking their ticket for Qatar.
The North African giants were unlucky as they lost back-to-back penalty shootouts to Senegal, already missing out on the Africa Cup of Nations title in February.
A month later Egyptians were longing to avenge their final defeat and hoping to make their fourth World Cup appearance but Senegal managed to cancel out a 1-0 first-leg defeat at home in the second leg, resulting in another penalty shootout.
Queiroz confirmed on his social accounts that he would be stepping down as Egypt coach, and later reiterated his stance in his post-match press conference.
“It’s time for me to leave the leadership of Egypt to someone else,” he said, as per Kingfut.
“Today my dream was to get Egypt for the fifth time to be at the World Cup, but it was Cissé who qualified with Senegal.
“The game is over. We, unfortunately, failed to reach the World Cup. It’s all over and there’s not a lot of things to say.
“Just some nice words for the players and I congratulate them on the game they played and I also congratulate Senegal after playing a big game.
“We should not forget that Senegal will represent Africa in the World Cup and we wish them good luck.”
Queiroz did take part in the last three World Cups, leading Portugal during the 2010 tournament before qualifying for back-to-back tournaments with Iran in 2014 and 2018.
