Egypt will play its Ethiopian counterpart today, Thursday, in the second round of the 2023 African Nations Cup qualifiers, which will be hosted by Cote d'Ivoire.The match will be held in Malawi, after the Confederation of African Football banned matches in Ethiopia for not meeting the conditions.The Egyptian team started its qualifying campaign by defeating Guinea with a 1-0 win, while Ethiopia lost from Malawi with two goals to one on the same stadium.The Egyptian team is missing the efforts of Liverpool star Mohamed Salah, in addition to Mohamed Elneny and Mahmoud Hassan Trezeguet due to injury.Salah, 29, had refused his team's request, Liverpool, to undergo a scan for an undeclared injury, before playing the full match against Guinea on Sunday.
Egypt coach Ihab Galal said in a press statement after the match that "Salah suffered from an injury, but he was prejudiced against himself."Yesterday, Wednesday, Galal said in a Facebook post that his team was suffering from "bad luck" due to the large number of injuries.
"We will face a strong opponent and the match against Ethiopia is not easy and we will do our best to achieve the three points," he added.Galal coached the Egyptian national team a short time ago, succeeding Portuguese Carlos Queiroz.On the other hand, Wubito Abate, coach of the Ethiopian national team, said that the absences that hit the Egyptian team will not affect the Pharaohs.In statements to Ontime Sport, Abate said, "The Egyptian team has many good players. The absence of some stars will not affect the team, and it does not give us an advantage."He added, "Egypt played the final of the African Nations Cup, and lost the decisive round of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. It also played well against Guinea and deserved to win."