After suffering an injury during Thursday’s 2-2 tie with Ghana, Mohamed Salah’s coach Rui Vitoria of Egypt stated that it was “too early to say” if he would play again in this year’s Africa Cup of Nations.
The Liverpool striker seemed to clutch the back of his left leg before being taken off the field late in the first half of the Group B match in Abidjan.
“We don’t know yet what is the problem. I hope not a big problem…It is too early to say something,” Vitoria stated after his team’s second consecutive 2-2 tie in the competition. “Salah is an amazing player, one of the best players in the world, so we want to have this kind of player always with us.”
Egypt escaped a shock defeat to Mozambique in their first match thanks to a penalty from Mohamed Salah in stoppage time. However, the Egyptians faced a much better Ghana team this time.
After Salah’s injury, Mohammed Kudus smashed in a long-range goal in first-half stoppage time to give the Black Stars the lead after Cape Verde had upset them 2-1 earlier in the competition.
Omar Marmoush equalised before Kudus scored again, but Mostafa Mohamed ensured Egypt earned a point by scoring for the second game in a row.
“The players were upset after conceding at the end of the first half…but it’s football, we changed the mindset in the second half, we went for the game with positive energy,” said Vitoria. He added, “Not because of Salah, but because the result was not good. The reaction and commitment of the team were good, but Salah is an amazing player and we cannot forget that.”