Mohamed Zidan - International Career

International Career

Weeks before the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt, the Egyptian Football Association sent a fax on 23 December 2005 to Mainz, asking for an international call-up for Zidan. There was no answer from Mainz or the player for that matter, and as a consequence he drew much criticism from the Egyptian fans and officials alike. He had allegedly chosen not to represent Egypt, as he felt he would lose his starting spot with Mainz. However, in an interview, after Egypt had won the African Cup of Nations in 2008, he stated that the reason he did not play in 2006 was because of a leg injury.

In a January 2006 interview with the Danish tabloid newspaper BT, Zidan criticized the Egyptian Football Association for contacting Mainz during Christmas time when everybody was on holiday, and said that the Egyptian national team should have talked to him personally, as they had with Tottenham Hotspur striker Mido. He also said that the Egyptian head coach Shehata had not treated him well, and that the whole thing seemed too unprofessional for him. In April 2006, Hassan Shehata declared he would never again invite Mohamed Zidan to join the national team. He stated, "Zidan refused to join the team when we needed him most, before the Nations Cup. You can never count on these kind of players". During this time there was also talk about Zidan wanting to play for the Denmark national team, if the Egyptian squad did not want him.

However, on 5 August 2006, just 11 days before Egypt's friendly match against Uruguay, Shehata backed down over his former decision by calling Zidan up for the national team squad. However, Zidan remained doubtful for the friendly match against Uruguay due to an injury that forced him to miss Werder Bremen's season opener. Zidan was called to represent Egypt in the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations qualification match against Burundi, where he scored his first international goal only five minutes after kick-off.

Indeed, in Egypt's 2008 Africa Cup of Nations opening Group C match against Cameroon, in a match hotly billed as the Group C decider for top and second spots in the group, Zidan turned in a strong performance, scoring two goals – helping the African Champions' cause for defending their title during an impressive 4–2 victory.

Zidan was not out of the woods yet when it comes to controversy as he was reportedly injured in training with the national team before their match with Angola, ART reporter said that he thought that Zidan is being "spoilt", and that he refused to continue the warm up and treatment for him before the game, this was denied by Shawky Gharib the Egyptian Head Coach, Zidan and the Manager; Hassan Shehata.

After missing a few games and a few starts after the display in the opening Cameroon game, Zidan was used as a substitute on numerous occasions, always posing a great threat to the opposition. He was used in the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana as a striker, sometimes a lone striker, a winger and as an offensive midfielder. One of the most notable plays was in the final against Cameroon, when he applied pressure on veteran defender Rigobert Song and effectively wrestled the ball out of the defender's legs and managed to supply Mohamed Aboutrika for the winning goal.

In Egypt's opening 2009 Confederations Cup game, Zidan scored two goals against Brazil in a 4–3 loss.

He was called again to join Egypt's squad for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola. He was Egypt's striker along with Emad Moteab. He played in the opening Group C match against Nigeria. He scored his only goal in the competition against Algeria in the semifinal, in a match that ended 4–0 to Egypt, and where he also assisted Mohamed Abdel-Shafy for the 3–0 goal. He supplied the final's winning goal, once again, but not to Aboutrika this time; this time it was Mohamed Nagy Gedo who got the winning goal.

On 3 March 2010, Zidan scored the only goal for Egypt in a 3–1 loss to England. Zidan is unlikely to play for Egypt again after refusing to play a crucial qualifiers match against Central African Republic to fly off to China for a discussion with a Chinese club.