Marseille's Mido has been named in Egypt's provisional squad

Egypt's coach Mohsen Saleh has not included any players from the Olympic team, as they are currently preparing to take on Tunisia early in the New Year in an Athens 2004 qualifier.

One notable absence from the squad is 34-year old Hany Ramzy, who is still recovering from a knee injury, he picked up in August while playing for Kaiserslautern.

His chances of returning to the squad before the January's Nations Cup finals in Tunisia now seem slim, especially with the German Bundesliga now on their winter break.

There are however five European-based players in the squad, including the Marseille striker Ahmed 'Mido' Hossam and three players who play their club football in Turkey.

Saleh also revealed that he will name a provisional squad of 26 players before the new year, for a training camp as part of final preparations before the Nations Cup finals in January.

The camp will be in the Mediterranean city of Port Said and the Pharoah's will play friendly matches against Rwanda on 8 January, the DR Congo on 15 January and Burkina Faso on 18 January. The squad:Goalkeepers:
Nader El Sayed (Ittihad), Abdel Wahed El Sayed (Zamalek), Essam Mahmoud (Enppi)

Defenders:
Bechir El Taby, Medhat Abdel Hady, Tarek El Sayed (All Zamalek), Abdel Zaher El Saka (Genclebirligi - Turkey), Emad El Nahas, Amr Faheem (Both Ismaili), Amr El Disoki (Ankaragucu - Turkey)