#egypt-national-team

#egypt-national-team

It is a long time since Egypt had a night this good. There have been two World Cup qualifications since their golden age of three successive Cups of Nations came to an end in 2010, and they've got to the finals of two Cups of Nations since, but this had a different feel to the knockout phases in 2017 or 2021 (played in 2022).

It has been a hectic few weeks for the 33-year-old, first being benched for three consecutive games by Liverpool boss Arne Slot, before the winger himself blew the story open by telling journalists he'd been thrown under the bus. That led to the winger being omitted from the Reds' travelling squad to face Inter Milan, before crunch talks between the head coach and Salah saw him readmitted to the first team.

Salah's Egypt are the leaders in Group A of the CAF qualifying process for next summer's World Cup in the US, Canada, and Mexico. They have won six of their eight games so far and drawn the other two, putting them on 20 points with a handy five-point lead over second-placed Burkina Faso. Victory against Djibouti will mathematically guarantee their ticket to the World Cup.