DOHA: Tunisia forward Youssef Msakni has been ruled out of the World Cup after agonizingly suffering a cruciate ligament injury while playing his final league game of the season.
In a statement on Sunday, his club, Qatar’s Al Duhail, said Msakni would not play until October at the earliest after injuring his knee.
“Msakni will be absent for six months, and with this injury he... will be absent from participation with his national team in the World Cup in Russia,” read the statement.
The World Cup begins on June 14.
The 27-year-old, who had been instrumental in helping Tunisia qualify for the finals, announced on his Instagram page that he was “very sad” to miss the tournament.
His absence is a major blow to Tunisia’s hopes of progressing from a group also including Belgium, England and Panama.
Msakni was the team’s top scorer with three goals in the team’s successful final qualifying round for Russia.
Tunisia, known as the “Carthage Lions,” play their first game against England in Volgograd on June 18.
Msakni injured himself playing in a match against Al Sailiya on April 7, which saw his Al Duhail team crowned as Qatari league champions, finishing ahead of second-placed Al Sadd, captained by Barcelona great Xavi Hernandez.
‘Very sad’ Tunisia star Msakni ruled out of World Cup
‘Very sad’ Tunisia star Msakni ruled out of World Cup
Marmoush, Salah strike as Egypt edge out holders Ivory Coast in quarter-final
- Egypt wasted little time in taking the lead as Marmoush scored in the fourth minute
- That set up a siege of the Egyptian goal in the final 15 minutes but they held out to advance
AGADIR, Morocco: Omar Marmoush netted the opener and Mohamed Salah scored the decisive goal as Egypt ended Ivory Coast’s reign with a narrow 3-2 triumph in Saturday’s Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final.
Center back Rami Rabia was the other scorer for the Egyptians, who had little possession at the Grande Stade Agadir but took their chances with clinical precision and held on grimly to book a semifinal meeting with Senegal on Wednesday.
An own goal from Ahmed Fatouh and a late effort by Guela Doue proved insufficient for the Ivory Coast, winners of the tournament on home soil two years ago but now deposed as African champions.
Egypt, who have won a record seven Cup of Nations titles, wasted little time in taking the lead as Marmoush scored in the fourth minute after Hamdi Fathy pinched the ball from Franck Kessie in the midfield, allowing Emam Ashour to thread a pinpoint ball to the sprinting Marmoush. He still needed to shrug off the attentions of defender Odilon Kossounou before slotting home.
But it quickly became clear the Ivorians were going to dominate possession, showing much more physical strength on the ball but without setting up clear chances.
Egypt went 2-0 up in the 32nd minute when Rabia rose above the defenders to head his side further ahead from a corner.
The Ivory Coast, who had 70 percent of possession in the first half, reduced the deficit eight minutes later when teenager Yann Diomande’s freekick near the corner took a slight brush off Kossounou’s head and ricocheted off the knee of full back Fatouh and into the net.
SALAH FINISHED OFF CLEVER MOVE
The Ivorians had come from 2-0 down to beat Gabon 3-2 earlier in the tournament but hopes of turning the scoreline around soon after the re-start were stymied by a simply created, but superbly finished, goal for Salah seven minutes after the break.
Rabia was well inside his own half when he chipped the ball over the top of the Ivorian defensive line, allowing Ashour to run onto it and hit an accurate pass with the outside of his right boot into the path of Salah to score.
An Ivorian comeback was still on when Doue touched home at the end of a goalmouth scramble in the 73rd minute.
That set up a siege of the Egyptian goal in the final 15 minutes but they held out to advance.
Earlier on Saturday, Nigeria overpowered Algeria 2-0 in Marrakech and will take on hosts Morocco in the other semifinal.
