Mohamed Salah will play no part in Egypt’s second match of the international week after a decision was made in the wake of the Pharaohs loss against Uzbekistan.
Egypt and Salah were beaten 2-0 in the United Arab Emirates, missing out on a place in the final of the Al Ain International Cup friendly tournament.
Salah is out of Egypt’s clash with Cape Verde but Liverpool fans can breathe a sigh of relief
With nothing but third place in a friendly competition on the line, head coach Hossam Hassan and Egypt have taken the decision to omit the 33-year-old Liverpool star.
A squad update from the Egyptian camp in the UAE confirmed that Salah, who is ranked at no.1 FourFourTwo's list of the best African footballers ever, will not play but made clear that there is no injury concern.
“The Egyptian national football team, led by Hossam Hassan, held its training session in Al Ain in preparation for a friendly match against Cape Verde,” read the statement from the Egyptian Football Association.
“The absence of the duo Ahmed Sayed Zizo and Hamdi Fathi from the Cape Verde match was also confirmed, and Salah Mohsen underwent recovery training, in addition to giving Mohamed Salah a rest, and his non-participation in the Cape Verde friendly.”
Egypt and Cape Verde have both confirmed their places at the World Cup in United States, Canada and Mexico next summer.
The Pharaohs were unbeaten in CAF qualifying Group A, seeing off Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone in a group that also featured Guinea-Bissau, Ethiopia and Djibouti.
Cape Verde secured their World Cup finals debut by winning Group D ahead of Cameroon, who were eliminated by the Democratic Republic of Congo in last week’s CAF qualification second round play-off semi-finals.
DR Congo meet Nigeria in the final in Morocco on Sunday for a place in the inter-confederation play-offs, the last chance saloon for the World Cup dreams of six teams wrestling for the final two spots.
Salah’s interest in the current international match window ended after the Uzbekistan match and he can now focus on his club’s preparations for the next round of league fixtures.
The Reds halted a disappointing run of form with wins over Aston Villa and Real Madrid at the start of the month before they were comprehensively beaten by Manchester City in their most recent outing.
Liverpool will take on Nottingham Forest when Premier League action returns on Saturday. Depending on other results, a win could leave them in the top four after 12 matches.
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