Mohamed Elneny has been called up by Egypt for the first time since his injury, as he continues to make progress towards returning to his best.
Egypt have announced their national team squad for the October international break, and Mohamed Elneny is involved for the first time since November 2022.
Elneny’s significant knee injury kept him out of action with Arsenal for most of this year, and he missed three international breaks with Egypt.
But the 31-year-old is back in action with Arsenal, making the first-team squad on five occasions and coming on against Brentford in the League Cup.
Fortunately for the Arsenal midfielder, Egypt managed to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations in his absence, and he’s now ready to rejoin the side.
Egypt will soon kick off their World Cup qualification campaign for 2026, featuring in a group containing Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, and Djibouti.
On paper, you’d think Elneny’s side would be the clear favourites, at least in terms of the FIFA rankings:
- Egypt – 35
- Burkina Faso – 58
- Guinea-Bissau – 106
- Sierra Leone – 124
- Ethiopia – 142
- Djibouti – 190
But those qualifiers don’t get underway until November. In the meantime, the October break holds a couple of friendlies for Egypt.
Egypt will face Zambia on Thursday, October 12th, and Algeria on Monday, October 16th, with both games due to take place in the UAE.
After that, it will be World Cup qualifiers in November, before the delayed 2023 Africa Cup of Nations tournament in January.
The draw for the tournament’s group stage also takes place on October 12th.