Egypt U-20 coach Rabie Yassin has expressed his respect for the Ghana team despite defeating them in their opening match at the African Youth Championship (AYC).

The Young Pharaohs needed a late penalty on Saturday to defeat the Black Satellites 2-1 in Group A after the Ghanaians wasted a lot of scoring chances.

The Egypt coach has hailed the Ghanaian side for their tenacity insisting the Black Stars played well even though his side won.

“I have to greet the Ghana team. They played well and they have many good players,” Rabie Yassin said.

“Nevertheless about my team we were also good and I am so happy with them. We played the first half very well but slacked off in the second and allowed them to score.

“However we found our second win and won the game. We deserved the three points before the Algeria clash and that will be very tough because it is a Northern African derby.

” We will do our best to win the three points and qualify to the second stage. We will start preparing for the Algeria match from Sunday.”

Ghana will face a stubborn Benin side on their next game.