Argentina claims 2-0 victory over Egypt in friendly game

CAIRO, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Argentina claimed a 2-0 victory over African champions Egypt in a friendly football game here on Wednesday.

In the first half of the game at Cairo Stadium, Egypt played well and managed to end it with a goalless draw with Argentina, which is listed on the top of FIFA's world ranking.

In the 65th minute, Sergio Aguero opened the scoring for the visitors when a long ball reached the Atletico Madrid player. Aguero burst into the penalty area and fired into the net.

Nicolas Burdisso got another score in the 85th minute with a looping header after being picked out by a free kick, sealing the victory for Argentina.

Presence of Egypt's Al-Ahly club goalkeeper Essam al-Hadari, who had tried to move to the Swiss FC Sion club without approval of Al-Ahly, got mixed reactions from the home fans.

Some fans in the stadium cheered while others chanted slogans against al-Hadari, who returned home from Switzerland in late February after failing to transfer to the Swiss club.

Earlier this month, Egyptian national football team coach Hassan Shehata said that al-Hadari would show up in the Egyptian team and play in the friendly with Argentina.

The goalie will also take part in the World Cup qualifiers in May, said Shehata, adding there was no linking between Al-Ahly's crisis with al-Hadari and the goalie's participation in matches with Egypt.

The friendly match on Wednesday came as a part of both teams' preparations for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.