Vancouver, June 22 (IANS) The Egyptian national football team’s plans to set up camp in Seattle have been derailed after local security authorities refused the team’s request to stay in the city following their World Cup clash against New Zealand.

The team will now be forced to alter their travel logistics and return to the city of Spokane, team manager Ibrahim Hassan said on Monday.

“The security authorities refused the team’s request to stay in the city of Seattle as planned after the New Zealand match in the World Cup, and therefore the team’s delegation will return to the city of Spokane,” Ibrahim said as quoted by the Egyptian Football Association.

According to Hassan, the technical staff had initially adjusted their itinerary to fly directly from Vancouver to Seattle on Monday right after their 3-1 victory over New Zealand. The move was intended to avoid unnecessary travel and spare the squad from mounting fatigue ahead of their decisive final Group G encounter against Iran on June 27 (IST) at the Seattle Stadium.

“The team had wanted to travel directly to Seattle to preserve the players from travel fatigue due to the numerous trips in preparation for the Iran match on June 26, but following the security stance, the Egypt national team delegation will return to Spokane,” he added.

As per the original schedule, the Pharaohs were supposed to return from Canada to Spokane before heading to Seattle on June 25 (IST). However, the technical staff decided to head straight to Seattle to spare players additional travel and allow for better preparation for the decisive group-stage encounter.

Goals from Mostafa Zico, Mohamed Salah and Trezeguet saw Egypt create history as they came from behind to beat New Zealand 3-1 and claim their first FIFA World Cup victory since making their debut 92 years and 25 days ago.

–IANS

bc/