Egyptian Football Association (EFA) board member Hazem Emam has reflected on their 2023 Africa Cup of Nations campaign.
Egypt had a disappointing run earlier this year in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Ivory Coast as they were knocked out by DR Congo in the round of 16.
The tournament was also surrounded by controversy as Salah was the subject of criticism after the 31-year-old left the national team camp before the knockout stages and returned to Liverpool to recover from his injury.
Seven months later, Hazem Emam talked about Salah’s injury saga and revealed that he was given the green light by former head coach Rui Vitoria.
“We haven’t won AFCON since 2010 but all of a sudden, I’m the one responsible for all the shortcomings,” Emam said.
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“We played against DR Congo without Salah, Emam Ashour, Mohamed El-Shenawy while Trezeguet and Omar Marmoush struggled with weather conditions and the humidity. I was disappointed with our results in the tournament.”
“Salah’s injury? Did anyone apologise to us? The only one who apologised was Jurgen Klopp because he spoke prematurely about the whole situation.
“We had an agreement with Liverpool that Salah will travel after the Cape Verde game and that we will announce his injury after it. Klopp’s announcement took us by surprise.
“Two scans showed different things so Liverpool asked to have him with the promise that Salah will return to Ivory Coast if fit. Vitoria was the one who made the decision in the end,” he added.