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Hector Cuper has defended his decision to reshuffle his starting Egypt XI for their Tuesday friendly against Greece, which the Pharaohs lost 1-0. The North Africans were left deflated after their first friendly of the international break, when they were defeated 2-1 by Portugal following a stoppage-time double from Cristiano Ronaldo. However, rather than pick his strongest side to go in search of a morale-boosting victory against Greece in Zurich, Cuper opted to give some of his peripheral players a run out, only to see his much-changed side defeated by Nikolaos Karelis's first-half winner. "It would have been easy to just have fielded the 11 players who start regularly for us and get a positive result," Cuper told ONSport, "but we decided to give as many players as possible a chance to watch them closely. "I wasn't happy with the team's performance in the first half, but it was a little bit different in the second," he continued. "We became more fierce and the performance improved, but the result wasn't positive." Cuper opted to rest star man Mohamed Salah for the bout against Greece, although in his absence, a number of squad players failed to step up and ignite a lethargic attacking display. "We tried to give the new players as many minutes as possible, and we tried to watch them closely over the two matches," Cuper continued. "That's why this reunion has been important for us. "We don't have time anymore," the Argentine coach concluded. "We are preparing the final [squad] list which will participate in the World Cup." Egypt have been handed a favourable first-round draw at the global showpiece in Russia, having been pitted against the hosts, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia.
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