By Amr Shaheen BBC Sport, Cairo

Captain Hany Ramzy will miss both games

Egypt's national team will play two friendly games against South Africa and Sweden later this month.

The matches, scheduled for 15 and 18 November, are to prepare the north African side for next year's Nations Cup finals in Tunisia.

"We need a competitive match against a team like South Africa," said manager Mohsen Saleh.

"The match will be a very useful warm-up game, as they have a similar style to Zimbabwe's."

Egypt, who last won the Nations Cup at the 1998 edition in Burkina Faso, play their opening Group C game against the debutants on 25 January in Sfax.

Defending champions Cameroon and Algeria, the 1990 Nations Cup winners, are their other group opponents.

Egypt's deal to play against the 1996 Nations Cup winners was done in Switzerland, when officials from both nations were at Fifa House in Zurich to submit their hosting bids for the 2010 World Cup finals.

Saleh said he intends to pick the country's best players to participate in both games.

But one key player that would missing from both friendlies is team captain Hany Ramzy, who is battling to recover from a serious knee injury.

Saleh said he is in constant touch with Ramzy, who plays for German Bundesliga side Kaiserslautern, and remains hopeful that he would recover in time for the Nations Cup finals.

"He remains an important player for us and we hope that he will be fit in good enough time to play a role at the Nations Cup," Saleh said.