Injury forces Salah out of Egypt qualifier

CAIRO: Mohamed Salah is out of Egypt’s Africa Nations Cup qualifier away to eswatini on Tuesday after suffering a groin injury in Friday’s clash between the two countries in Cairo, team oficials said on Saturday.

Salah went off after being injured late in the game, leaving his side down to 10 men as they had already used their allotted three substitutes.

But by then Egypt were comfortably on their way to a 4-1 home win in their Group J encounter scored directly from a corner just before half-time.

“Javier aguirre has decided to allow Sal ah to return to liverpool to give him extra rest, as medical scans revealed that it would be difficult to get him fit for tuesday’ s match ,” said an egyptian Football Association statement.

The statement did not indicate how long Salah might be out, but assistant coach Hany Ramzy said after Friday’s game that the injury did not appear serious.

Egypt could ensure qualification for a record 24th Nations Cup finals appearance if they win on Tuesday in the southern African kingdom formerly known as Swaziland.

After scoring 44 goals in all competitions during his first season at Anfield, the striker has netted only three this term, with just one since August. Salah netted twice and missed two penalties when record seven-time African champions Egypt hammered Niger 6-0 last month in another qualifier.