Video: away from the Tartan and the coach crisis, an unexpected reason for Mohamed Salah's absence against South Sudan

An Egyptian media figure has revealed a new explanation for the absence of Mohamed Salah, the Turkish side Trabzonspor's star, from the match between Egypt and South Sudan, scheduled for next Tuesday in the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

The Egyptian Football Association announced that Salah would miss the upcoming match, based on an agreement with the technical staff, due to the "Tartan" pitch surface.

Mohamed Shabana, however, claimed that Egypt's clash with Angola turned tense on the back of manager Hossam Hassan's pre-match comments about Mohamed El Shenawy, whom he described as having been "finished" when he joined the national team. The game was meant to be a celebration of the Pharaohs' World Cup showing.

Shabana said, in statements on the "Number One" programme broadcast on the "CBC" channel this Sunday evening: "Suddenly the Angola match turned from a celebration of Egypt's achievement in results and performance at the World Cup into a tense match because of Hossam Hassan's statements the day before the game regarding Mohamed El Shenawy."

He added: "I am not convinced by the players' absence from matches held on artificial turf pitches out of fear of injury or of an effect on the knee, and if that were the case, FIFA would not have permitted matches to be held on these pitches."

Shabana went on: "What has been circulated about Mohamed Salah not playing the South Sudan match out of fear of injury is untrue, and it is also untrue that his non-participation came because of his anger at the substitution in the Angola match."

Then came the twist. "Hany Abo Rida, the president of the Egyptian Football Association, agreed with Mohamed Salah before the Angola match not to play the South Sudan match, because of his son Leo, especially as there were certain vaccinations that the player should have received before travelling, but out of concern for his son he requested to be excused from the game, because he will spend two days with him, especially as the child has a weak immune system and there is a virus spreading in South Sudan during the current period," he revealed.

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