Egypt travel to Djouba on 29 September to face South Sudan. Without Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian Football Association says the technical staff decided to rest him “because of the playing surface”, which is synthetic.
According to the federation, the staff preferred this solution in order to protect the player. The decision was taken by the technical staff led by Hossam Hassan, and agreed with Salah himself.
The agreement was reached before the match against Angola, the federation says. In Cairo, Salah played an hour before being substituted by Hossam Hassan. The match ended 0-0. Egypt are provisionally second in Group B, with one point, and will play a friendly against South Africa on 4 October.
Salah is 34. He left Liverpool this summer after nine seasons, 442 matches, 257 goals and nine major trophies. At Trabzonspor, he already has seven goals and two assists in six Süper Lig matches.
The synthetic pitch. We invented grass that doesn’t grow, and now players refuse to walk on it. In my day, at Sclessin, in November, there was no grass left at all. There was earth, and water in the earth. Nobody was rested. I’m not criticising. I’m comparing. In 1980, a pitch was green in August and brown by Christmas. Nobody asked what it was made of. You played on whatever was under your feet, and you went home to eat. Note that the player is right to be wary. It’s the grass that’s wrong. Anyway. It’s the era.
It’s true, we checked: RMC Sport.
