Elneny to miss Gabon's match for injury

CAIRO-3 September 2021: Mohamed Elneny, Egypt and Arsenal midfielder, will not be fit for Egypt's match against Gabon in the second round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup African Qualifiers after picking up a muscular injury. 

 

Arsenal sent a medical report of the player's injury to the Egyptian Football Association (EFA), which revealed that the player is injured and will not be fit for Sunday's game in Liberville. 

 

Elneny missed Egypt's opening game in the qualifications on Wednesday as the Premier League clubs refused to release their players to avoid 10-day quarantine on their return to England from countries included in the UK's red-list.

 

Egypt plays in Group F of the qualifications alongside Angola, Gabon and Libya. 

 

Egypt started the World Cup qualifiers with a 1-0 victory over Angola in Cairo to top group F alongside Libya who defeated Gabon 2-1 in the first round. 

 

The group winner will reach the final stage of the qualifications alongside other 9 group winners. The 10 teams will compete in five knockout matches to decide the five nations that will represent Africa in the 2022 FIFA World Cup.