Mustafa Shobier, a player of the Egyptian national team, expressed his happiness about Egypt’s qualification for the 2026 World Cup after topping Group A in the African qualifiers.

Shobier said in statements to On Sport channel: “I hope I have honored Captain Shobier and fulfilled his dream; qualifying for the World Cup means a lot to me and to him.”

He added: “We are happy that we made the Egyptian people happy, and I hope to qualify for every World Cup edition, not just every 15 years.”

He continued: “Many expect the matches to be easy, but all matches were difficult, and we have senior players with the experience to handle these tough games.”

Regarding his strong relationship with his mother, he responded: “I have no words to say about my mother because she worked very hard for me, and if anyone is a project, it would be her because she cares about my life from breakfast, lunch, dinner, and the quality of food.”

He added: “I cannot attack the media, and if I did, I would calm down at home. I respect the media and press, but I criticized a certain stance. I have all respect for the press and media, and it is difficult for me to offend them since my father works in this profession.”

About his relationship with Mohamed El-Shenawy, he said: “There is competition inside the field between me and El-Shenawy, Mohamed Siha, and all goalkeepers. I have a strong relationship with Mohamed Sobhi and Abdelaziz Belouty. Everyone earns their own living; no one takes someone else’s livelihood. The current generation deserves to win the Africa Cup of Nations, and we will focus on extra details to achieve what we did not achieve in the World Cup participation and make a leap like Morocco’s team.”

The Egypt squad for the Guinea-Bissau match included: “Goalkeeper Mohamed Sobhi, defenders Mohamed Hany, Rami Rabia, Yasser Ibrahim, Mohamed Hamdy, midfielders Mohand Lashin, Ahmed Nabil Kouka, Mahmoud Hassan Trezeguet, and the attacking trio Ahmed Sayed Zizo, Ibrahim Adel, and Mostafa Mohamed.”

The substitutes list included: “Mostafa Shobier – Abdelaziz Belouty – Hossam Abdel Meguid – Amr El-Gazzar – Khaled Sobhi – Ahmed Eid – Mahmoud Saber – Mostafa Fathi – Osama Faisal.”

Absent from the match are Marwan Attia (Al Ahly) and Hamdy Fathi (Al-Wakrah, Qatar) due to suspension after receiving a second yellow card in a previous match.

Forced absences: Additionally, important names missed the current camp and were unavailable for the match due to injury, notably Omar Marmoush, Manchester City star, Mohamed Abdel Monem, Emam Ashour, Mohamed Shehata, and Nabil Emad Donga.

Egypt qualified for the World Cup for the fourth time, topping Group A in the African qualifiers with 23 points from 9 matches, ahead of tonight’s last round match against Guinea-Bissau, which the Pharaohs will play as a formality.

The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) set December 5 as the date for the 2026 World Cup draw, which will feature 48 teams for the first time in history, in the US capital, Washington.