Despite missing Egypt’s Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final match against Morocco with a calf strain, Mohamed Elneny managed to make the bench for their semi-final win against Burkina Faso.
On Wednesday evening, Egypt beat Burkina on penalties to make the final with the other semi-final between Cameroon and Ghana set to be played tonight (Thursday).
Egypt initially went 1-0 up in the 66th minute thanks to a Mohamed Salah goal – the Roma winger’s second of the tournament so far.
However, Burkina came back to equalise through ASEC Mimosas striker, Aristide Bancé, in the 73rd.
It went to penalties, which Egypt managed to scrape 4-3 and progress to the final after Mohamed Koffi’s shot was saved.
Athough Elneny didn’t feature, he was on the bench, which is comforting considering he missed the quarter-final due to a calf strain. Although Egypt’s coach revealed that he could potentially make the final and was due to have further tests, he’s an Arsenal player so most of us assumed the worst.
Hopefully, he is indeed fine and he was just rested as a precaution. Now that Aaron Ramsey has also picked up a calf strain, we need some more bodies in midfield.