Egypt confident it can progress without Salah
Midfielder Marwan Attia insists Egypt can cope with the “great loss” of Mohamed Salah as it gears up for its Africa Cup of Nations Round of 16 clash with DR Congo in San Pedro.
Salah is back at Liverpool for treatment on the hamstring injury he picked up in the second group game, with the hope he might be able to rejoin the national team should it move deeper into the tournament.
Egypt squeezed into the knockout round after three successive 2-2 draws and will next face a DR Congo side that is also unbeaten but yet to record a victory.
Attia said: “The absence of a Mohamed Salah is a great loss for the team, but it will not deter us from achieving our goal.
“No match is easy, but we are ready to rise to the challenge and beat Congo.
“Tomorrow’s match will be difficult, but we will give it our all to win and move on in the tournament.
“We are confident in ourselves and our abilities and we will fight to the end to win.”
Egypt is also without first-choice goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy, who suffered a dislocated shoulder in its final group game against Cape Verde.
Boss Rui Vitoria feels his team are being dogged by misfortune.
“We have been suffering from strange injuries since the first day,' he said. "Even our equipment manager was injured. We always play to win, but bad luck seems to be following us.”
The winner of the game will play either Equatorial Guinea or Guinea in the quarter-finals.
