ABIDJAN: Liverpool and Egypt star Mohamed Salah has been ruled out of the next two Africa Cup of Nations games with a hamstring injury, his country’s football association said Friday.
“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, came off late in the first half of the Pharaohs’ 2-2 draw with Ghana on Thursday.
He will therefore sit out Monday’s final group game against Cape Verde and any last-16 tie that would follow that.
After drawing their opening two games at the tournament, the record seven-time African champions need to beat already-qualified Cape Verde to be guaranteed of advancing in second place in Group B.
That would tee up a last-16 tie in San-Pedro on January 28, while they could also potentially qualify as one of the best third-placed teams.
He will therefore only feature again at the competition if Egypt make it to a quarter-final on February 2 or 3.
Egypt needed an injury-time penalty from Salah to salvage a 2-2 draw with Mozambique in their opening game at the tournament.
On Thursday they had to come from behind twice to draw with Ghana, Omar Marmoush and Mostafa Mohamed scoring their goals, with the result leaving them on two points from two matches.
The last of Egypt’s seven titles at the Cup of Nations came in 2010, a year before Salah made his international debut.
Salah will miss two Africa Cup of Nations games — Egypt federation
https://arab.news/8nm5v
Salah will miss two Africa Cup of Nations games — Egypt federation
Mexico to kick off 2026 World Cup against South Africa
- Mexico’s co-hosts the United States and Canada will join the party the next day
- Defending champions Argentina were grouped with Algeria, Austria and debutants Jordan
- Five-times winners Brazil will play Morocco — semifinalists in 2022 — Haiti and Scotland
WASHINGTON: The 2026 World Cup will kick off on June 11 with joint-hosts Mexico playing South Africa at the Azteca Stadium — iconic venue of the 1970 and 1986 finals — followed by South Korea against a playoff winner after the complex draw was made on Friday.
South Africa are appearing for the first time since 2010, when they drew with Mexico in the opening match but failed to reach the knockout stage.
Mexico’s co-hosts the United States and Canada will join the party the next day, against Paraguay and a playoff winner — possibly Italy — respectively in Los Angeles and Toronto.
The draw for the expanded 48-team tournament, with six berths still to be filled via a series of playoffs, was hugely complicated due to various geographical sub-clauses.
However, even the lengthy draw seemed short after an opening ceremony of over an hour that included US President Donald Trump being awarded the new FIFA peace prize.
DEFENDING CHAMPIONS ARGENTINA START AGAINST ALGERIA
Defending champions Argentina were grouped with Algeria, Austria and debutants Jordan, while five-times winners Brazil will play Morocco — semifinalists in 2022 — Haiti and Scotland.
The Scots are appearing in the finals for the first time since 1998, when they lost to Brazil in the opening game, while Haiti’s only previous appearance came in 1974.
France’s first game will be versus Senegal in a repeat of one of the biggest tournament upsets, when the Africans stunned the then-holders in their first game of the 2002 tournament. Norway and one of the playoff winners complete their group.
England will start against Croatia, who beat them in the 2018 semifinals, and also face Panama, who they thrashed 6-1 in the group stage in the same tournament, and Ghana.
Debutants Curacao, with a population of 150,000 making them by far the smallest country ever to reach the finals, face Germany, Ecuador and the Ivory Cost.
World number one-ranked Spain have a dream draw alongside debutants Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay.
The Netherlands are with Japan, Tunisia and a playoff winner, Belgium have Egypt, Iran and New Zealand, while Portugal face debutants Uzbekistan, Colombia and a playoff winner.
The teams outside the hosts’ groups will have to wait until Saturday to find out the venues and kickoff times for their games after soccer’s world governing body FIFA attempts to optimize them relating to the various worldwide TV markets.
A newly introduced seeding system ensures that the current top four in the world — Spain, holders Argentina, 2022 runners-up France and England — cannot meet until the semifinal stage if they win their groups.
