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The president of the Egyptian Football Federation, Hani Abu Rida, resigned Saturday night and "sacked" his technical team after the elimination in shock of the organizers of the Africa Cup of Nations.
The decision had been "a moral obligation," said the Egyptian federation in a statement after "disappointing supporters of Egypt" in a 1-0 defeat against South Africa, adding that all the members of the board of directors had been invited to resign.
Saturday's game saw the underdogs of the standings stifle South Africa, record seven times, among which was Liverpool star Mohamed Salah and who were among the favorites to win the tournament.
Rida has been running the Egyptian federation since 2016, in a controversial three-year reign, including a 2018 World Cup fiasco in which the Pharaohs failed to break out of the group stage after losing all their matches .
The team's training base in Grozny, the capital of predominantly Muslim Chechnya, has been widely criticized, particularly by human rights organizations. on violence by Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, supported by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The federation also played with Salah, the reigning African footballer of the year, and won the Champions League last month with his Liverpool club, which accused the body of abusing of his image in the interior of the country.
Recently, the reinstatement of a player who had been banned as a result of badual harbadment charges had caused further widespread criticism against the Egyptian social media federation.
Egyptian coach Javier Aguirre was criticized for his management of the team at the Africa Cup of Nations, the Egyptian legend Wael Gomaa accusing the Mexican of "no tactics or strategy".
After Saturday's defeat, Aguirre said he was the only one to blame for the country's disastrous campaign and said he would talk with the Egyptian Football Federation about his future.
Egypt had been called the defending champion on home soil but dropped out against a South African team that only managed to pbad the final round by eliminating the last of the four spots for the best teams from third place.
Thembinkosi Lorch scored the only goal of the last game in the 85th minute in the 85th minute to give South Africa a dazzling victory.
"No decision until that moment." I spoke to the players in the locker room and tomorrow (Sunday) I will talk to the EFA officials, "said Aguirre after the final whistle.
"I think the match was open and there were chances for both teams, the only difference was the goal for South Africa," he added.
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