Mohamed Salah avoided an injury scare as Egypt booked a berth in the next round of AFCON.
A 1-0 win for Egypt, thanks to Abdelmoneim’s header, which guaranteed a place for “The Pharaohs” in this year’s round of 16 of AFCON. So far, Egypt have put up quite a disappointing performance in the AFCON. They lost their first game to Nigeria and were barely able to scrap a win against Guinea-Bissau.
Mohamed Salah himself has not been putting up his best performances for Egypt in the AFCON. In the game against Nigeria, he looked out of his depth and against Sudan he lost the most duels (9). He did manage to get a goal against Guinea-Bissau.
However, Salah did show some of his best skills in this tournament against Sudan. He danced around a number of defenders, before finally unleashing a low shot that was saved. Salah also provided a big scare for Liverpool and Egypt fans. After Sudanese defender Mazin Mohamedein crunched into Salah with his studs, the Liverpool star went down on the ground. It looked like Egypt’s AFCON campaign was about to take a hit, but then Salah stood up.
All stats are taken from Fotmob.
Mohamed Salah’s Egypt, Sadio Mane’s Senegal & Naby Keita’s Guinea are into the last 16 of AFCON
Hopefully, Salah will be able to not only pick up his form soon but also the pen and sign a contract extension at Liverpool!
Meanwhile, Salah’s Liverpool teammate Sadio Mane was involved in yet another 0-0 draw vs Malawi. Despite not being able to score, Senegal went through to the next round. Mane’s Senegal has not been able to perform this AFCON, scoring only once in three games.
Mane is not having the best of tournaments right now. The 29-year-old has scored only once, a 97th-minute penalty, in three games. In the game against Malawi, Mane took a grand total of one shot and created zero chances. In the second half, he got a great opportunity to score but he scoped it over the goal post.
Naby Keita on the other hand is having an amazing tournament. He won the man of the match in the first two games for Guinea and in the last group stage game against Zimbabwe, he scored an absolute screamer. Even though he lost possession the most times in the match (3), he also created two chances. However, he was cautioned late in the game and will miss Guinea’s next game.
As things stand Guinea will play the runner-up of Group F, which can be either of Gambia, Mali and Tunisia. Meanwhile, Senegal will play the third-placed team from Group A (Cape Verde) or Group D (Egypt, Guinea-Bissau or Sudan) of the AFCON. This could mean a Sadio Mane vs Mohamed Salah match-up!
As things stand, other than Senegal, Egypt could play any of the four-team from Group E (Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone or Algeria).
While the trio’s presence will certainly be missed against Arsenal, we hope they do well in the AFCON.
