Egypt star Mohamed Salah insists that the Africa Cup of Nations trophy is the most important trophy and the most desired trophy in his career.
Salah is included in the ranks of the best players in the world today. He has won a number of titles, both with Liverpool such as the Champions League trophy, the Premier League, to the Club World Cup as well as personal titles such as the top scorer to the best player title.
But Salah admits that his biggest dream is to lead Egypt to win the Africa Cup of Nations. The title has not been realized by Salah so far.
“I lost to Cameroon in the final in Gabon in 2017 but I can assure you this is the trophy I most want to win.”
“I worked to win it and the same is true for all the Egyptian players who are here,” Salah was quoted as saying on the official CAF website.
Salah admits that the Africa Cup of Nations is a tough tournament with so many surprises to come.
“The African Cup of Nations is a very difficult competition and from the start you can see that some great teams are struggling to win,” said Salah.
Egypt are the most successful team at the Africa Cup of Nations with seven titles, including when they dominated the late 2000s with three successive titles.
But since the era of Mohamed Salah, who is considered the best Egyptian player of all time, their national team has never won the African Cup of Nations.
In the 2017 African Cup of Nations final, Egypt lost 1-2 to Cameroon. Mohamed Elneny first put Egypt ahead but then Cameroon won 2-1 through goals from Nicolas Nkoulou and Vincent Aboubakar.
Egypt star Mohamed Salah insists their supporters must unite at the Africa Cup of Nations and must not vilify some players on the basis of club differences.
It is wrong to see that there is an odd phenomenon in the era of social media in the form of attacks on certain players by Egyptian supporters. It is wrong to assume the sanctity of the national team has decreased.
“Egyptian football is now divided. We can see accounts that support certain players or clubs, created just to support them. They think that is a good thing but it is not good.”
“Things like that don’t help. You probably won’t hurt Mohamed Salah because I’ve been through that phase, but you’ll hurt young players,” Salah was quoted as saying by Kingfut.
Mohamed Salah then hopes that Egyptian fans will unite and not only support their favorite players.
“I have advice, for example Al Ahly fans don’t just talk about Al Ahly players and Zamalek fans don’t just talk about their players.”
“We are the Egyptian national team and in our pursuit of victory, all players have to feel that the fans are behind them. This will not affect me, who has played 10 years in international football, but there are a number of players who have just joined the first team for the first time, the future of this team,” said Salah.
Salah also emphasized that no player should be privileged and considered special in the Egyptian national team, including himself.
“If you love Egypt and the Egyptian national team, you have to support the whole team and not any particular player. No player is more important than the team, whether it’s me or any other player,” said Salah.
Egypt will face Ivory Coast on Wednesday (26/1) in the last 16 of the African Cup of Nations.
