Liverpool have asked Egypt to exclude star forward Mohamed Salah from their national team to play New Zealand’s All Whites on March 22.
Salah (31) has been struggling to recover from a thigh injury sustained at January’s Africa Cup of Nations, and has missed the English Premier League club’s last four matches.
Main photo: Mohamed Salah … in doubt for the international against New Zealand.
The Pharaohs — Egypt’s national team — intend to name Salah in their squad to face New Zealand at the four-nation W Cup in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates in late March 2024.
But Egypt say Liverpool don’t want to risk Salah making his injury worse.
“We have already received a letter from Liverpool to exempt Mohamed Salah from the upcoming camp due to his injury,” the Egypt FA said in a statement.
“We sent the name of Mohamed Salah among the professional players that we are requesting to include in the next camp a few days ago.
“It is our right to include any professional player as long as it is at the time of the international agenda, and the issue of whether or not to include him is in the hands of the national team’s technical staff, led by Hossam Hassan.
“It is still too early to decide the matter, and if Mohamed Salah plays any match in the time before the start of the camp, we will adhere to his inclusion, and he will be examined and his readiness determined by the medical staff of the Egyptian national team.”
Egypt’s squad options to face New Zealand
While Egypt are yet to name their squad for the W Cup tournament, the Egypt FA have confirmed which oveerseas-based players they want available for selection.
These are Mohamed Salah (Liverpool FC), Mahmoud Trezeguet (Trabzonspor), Mostafa Mohamed (FC Nantes), Omar Marmoush (Eintracht Frankfurt), Ahmed Hegazi (Ittihad Jeddah), Hamdi Fathi (Al-Wakrah), Mohamed Sherif (Al-Khaleej).
They have also confirmed the exclusion from the squad of Arsenal’s Mohamed Elneny and Ipswich Town captain Sam Morsy.
Other players not required for the tournament are Damac’s Tarek Hamed, Amr Warda, and Ahmed Hassan Kouka.
About the W Cup tournament
The winner of the match between New Zealand and Egypt will meet the winner of a match between Tunisia and Croatia in the tournament final on March 26.
The losers of the opening games will play off for third place on March 25.
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