Dean Perretta: Mohamed Salah was a runner-up with Egypt two years ago at the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations which witnessed the Pharaoh’s, unfortunately, lose 2-1 to Cameroon courtesy of an 88th-minute game-winning goal from Vincent Aboubakar. With that being said, how heartbreaking was that moment two summer’s ago for Egyptians and could it not have come in more crueler circumstances?
Mahmoud Diaa: Of course, there was sadness at the loss of the final in this way after a difficult journey from the beginning, but here we were watching Egypt play in the (2017) African Championship for the first time after the absence of seven years.
The most optimistic did not expect to reach the final (of the Africa Cup of Nations) in these circumstances with a team still in the construction phase, so reaching this (final) stage after a long absence (since 2010) was an achievement and perhaps if we lost the game in another scenario, the reactions would be different.
Dean Perretta: Mahmoud Trezeguet, Kouka, Mohamed El Neny and Ahmed El Mohamady are among the Pharaoh’s other talented key team players outside of Egypt’s superstar and national treasure Mohamed Salah. Can you talk about the aforementioned players overall qualities in particular and indeed the other players to look out for within the Egypt national team this summer?
Mahmoud Diaa: All of these players are playing in strong levels between the English Premier League and the Turkish (Super Lig) and the other players are in Greek (Super League) and American league (MLS), which was absent from Egypt in the past. Now we have players in the strongest patrols in the world led by Mohamed Salah.
Some of them (players) need to upgrade their team like (Mahmoud) Trezeguet (currently at Turkish Super Lig side Kasımpaşa) and the others to get out (to other clubs) for more minutes like (Arsenal’s) Mohamed El Neny, but in the end this number of professionals did not exist in Egypt during one period and the incentive became bigger for other players in order to get out and prove themselves.
