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Egypt
have asked the Confederation of African Football to postpone an African
Nations Cup qualifier in South Africa because of the recent civil
unrest in their country, a CAF spokesman confirmed on Sunday. Egypt
want the game, scheduled for March 26 in Johannesburg, to be put back
to June because of a shutdown of their premier league programme
following the riots and demonstrations that led to the toppling of
president Hosni Mubarak earlier this month. Egyptian clubs have not
played league matches since early January and the federation feels
their players will not have had the requisite preparation for the
qualifier.

CAF said they had received a request from the Egypt Football Association and would discuss it over the next few days.

It is a key game
for Egypt, who have won the last three Nations Cup finals, because they
have fallen three points behind South Africa in the standings after the
first two rounds of matches.

Only the group winner is guaranteed a place at the 2012 finals, co-hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

Egypt have asked CAF to consider their situation a case of ‘force
majeure’, which would allow them to claim a postponement because of
circumstances beyond their control.