Double blow Mohamed Salah ruled out of AFCON campaign with Egypt
Mohamed Salah’s Egypt will begin their quest for Africa Cup of Nations glory on Sunday.
The Liverpool forward is aiming to help the Pharaohs succeed in the 2023 edition of a tournament his nation has won on seven previous occasions.
Read our guide to what’s coming up for the Reds No.11…
How they qualified
Egypt booked their ticket to the Ivory Coast by topping a qualifying section that included Ethiopia, Guinea and Malawi.
They won five and lost one of their six preliminary fixtures, scoring 10 goals and conceding only three.
Group stage
Salah and his compatriots have been drawn in Group B of the opening phase and will face Cape Verde, Ghana and Mozambique.
First up for Egypt is a 5pm GMT kick-off versus Mozambique on Sunday, followed by a clash with Ghana at 8pm GMT on January 18. Their final fixture of the group stage comes against Cape Verde at 8pm GMT on January 22.
All three of those games will be played at Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny in Abidjan.
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Format and dates
The top two teams in each of the six groups will progress to the competition’s last 16, joined by the four best third-placed finishers.
The first batch of knockout-round ties will be held from January 27 to 30, with the quarter-finals scheduled for February 2/3.
Both semi-finals are set for February 7 and a third-place play-off will be contested on February 10.
Abidjan’s 60,000-capacity Alassane Ouattara Stadium will host the AFCON final on February 11, kicking off at 8pm GMT.
Egypt were crowned champions in each of the first two editions of the tournament and overall have lifted the trophy a record seven times.
The most recent of those triumphs came in 2010.
The Pharaohs have finished runners-up in two of the past three AFCONs, with Salah featuring in the finals against Cameroon and Senegal in 2017 and 2022 respectively.
Salah has scored six goals in his 17 previous appearances at the tournament.
What he said
Salah: “It’s a great feeling every time you step on the field with the national team jersey. It’s something I cannot take for granted.
“I am just happy to be there, happy to play in the tournament. I want to win this competition. I would love to win it.”
Liverpool are not in Premier League action until January 21 when they travel to Bournemouth
Jurgen Klopp
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has a weekend off
Liverpool will take a one-goal lead to Craven Cottage later this month after fighting from behind to defeat Fulham 2-1 at Anfield in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final.
Willian scored a 19th-minute opener to put Marco Silva’s side ahead a stun Anfield before Darwin Nunez came off the bench to provide assists for Curtis Jones and Cody Gakpo in the space of three second-half minutes.
Wednesday, though, will be Liverpool’s last competitive fixture for 11 days as they, and other sides in the Premier League, are afforded a weekend off due to a recently introduced winner break.
This season will be just the Premier League’s second-ever mid-season break since the concept was welcomed into the English schedule for the first time in the 2019/20 season.
The hiatus, which was agreed upon in June 2018, means that gameweek 21 is played over two weekends, with five fixtures on each weekend. Liverpool will travel to Bournemouth on the second weekend, January 21 with Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspur the standout fixture of this weekend’s action.
Asked after Wednesday’s semi-final win at Anfield if he was excited about the upcoming break in the Premier League calendar, Klopp said: “My English is not good enough to put that in words.”
After returning to Premier League action on January 21, the Reds are set for a hectic fixture schedule until the March international break with a minimum of 13 games set to be played in that time.
This year will be the first time Liverpool have been properly afforded a winter break, with an FA Cup fourth-round replay with Shrewsbury Town disrupting their ‘free week’ back in February 2020. However, Klopp still persisted with his plans to embark on a warm-weather training camp and instead left then under-21s manager Neil Critchley to field an academy side for the cup replay at Anfield.
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