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Fresh off helping his country secure a World Cup berth, star Liverpool and Egypt winger Mohamed Salah has been left out of the team for the November international break. As a result, he will miss Egypt’s final, meaningless qualifying match against Ghana on November 12th.
This news comes days after Egyptian coach Hector Cuper announced they would not play the other game they had scheduled for the November break, a friendly against the United Arab Emirates that had been set for November 8th as he sought to give key players more downtime.
That piece of good news for Salah and Liverpool fans got better today with confirmation he would be left off the travelling squad entirely, allowing him to remain in Liverpool following the game against West Ham on the weekend to rest and recuperate ahead of the holiday rush.
In other news, Salah officially made the list of finalists for the 2017 African Player of Player of the Year—though with the list of finalists running to 30 players, it’s difficult to imagine a world where the Egyptian superstar wouldn’t have been included on it.
He’s joined as a finalist by fellow Liverpool star winger Sadio Mané as well as by RB Leipzig midfielder Naby Keïta, who will be joining Liverpool next summer.