Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has been ruled out of Egypt’s next two Africa Cup of Nations games with a hamstring injury.
“Tests on Mohamed Salah, the captain of the Egypt national team, proved that he suffered a hamstring injury and will miss the next two matches of the team at the AFCON,” the Egyptian FA said in a statement.
Salah, 31, was taken off late in the first half of Egypt’s 2-2 draw with Ghana on Thursday.
So, he will not play in Monday’s last group game against Cape Verde or any match in the round of 16 that comes after that.
The record seven-time African champions have drawn their first two games at the tournament. They need to beat already-qualified Cape Verde to be sure of moving on in second place in Group B.
That would set up a match in San Pedro on January 28 in the round of 16. They could also qualify as one of the best third-place teams.
So, he will only play in the competition again if Egypt makes it to a quarterfinal on February 2 or 3.
In their first game at the tournament, Egypt tied Mozambique 2-2, but Salah scored a penalty in extra time to save the game.
On Thursday, they had to come back from two goals down to tie with Ghana. Omar Marmoush and Mostafa Mohamed scored the goals, giving them two points from two games.
Egypt has won seven Cup of Nations titles. Their most recent win was in 2010, a year before Salah played his first game for Egypt.
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