The captain of Egypt, Ibrahim Adel Ali Mohamed, says they are committed to defending their 2023 TotalEnergies U23 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) championship.

In an interview with CAF on Friday, Ali Mohamed stated that they could not wait to begin their 2023 season against Niger on Sunday at the Ibn-Batouta Stadium, also known as the Grand Stade de Tangerin Tangier.

“We have prepared well and are hungry to retain this title and qualify for the Paris Olympic Games so that we also make Egyptians back home very happy,” added the attacking left winger who also features for Pyramids back in the Egyptian Premier League.

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The Egyptian captain made it clear that they will not underrate any squad when discussing the other seven teams that will compete in the championship.

“Every team that qualified to play in the U-23 AFCON is good enough to be here, and we must respect them,” explained Ali Mohamed.

However, he argued that because every match in the competition is crucial, they will treat each one as a final.

“We are very focused and all the players are determined to prove a point,” added the skipper who was also part of the U-23 Egyptian squad at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

In Group B, the Egyptian team will compete against Niger, Mali, and Gabon.

Egypt defeated Cote d’Ivoire 2-1 in overtime at the Cairo International Stadium in 2019 to win the title in front of their home crowd.