Egypt boss Hector Cuper is confident that his superstar Mohamed Salah will be on the plane to Russia – but admits his side have been forced to plan for life without him.
Egyptian fans have hung on every word emanating from Salah’s camp since he damaged his shoulder ligaments after being roughed up by Sergio Ramos in Liverpool‘s Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid last Saturday.
It was easy to fear the worst when an emotional Salah left Kiev with his arm in a a sling, but the 25-year-old is expected to be back at some point during Egypt’s group matches – if not their opener against Uruguay.
Without him, Egypt toiled up front in a 0-0 draw with fellow World Cup entrants Colombia in Italy on Friday night.
And Cuper conceded his side is not the same beast without their Egyptian King, although expressed his confidence that Salah’s injury comeback is on track.
“We are optimistic, and every medical report says he will make it,” said Cuper, whose side faces Belgium in their final warm-up game on Wednesday. “But we still have to prepare for any situation that could happen before we start.
Egypt coach Hector Cuper.
“Salah is not easy to replace, no doubt about that. He is a weapon for us, especially on counter-attack, making use of his speed and his quality. That’s why today we struggled in our attacking performance.”
Cuper also believes his side will only get better upon the conclusion of the Holy Month of Ramadan.
“We tried to compensate that with some team playing, but as I said in the second half we lacked stamina because we have a special condition … for religious reasons, players don’t drink nor eat anything, and we actually felt that,” added the Argentine.
“We tried to manage it using the whole team so it could try to respond better. We sprinted very well, because it was not easy to recover the ball.”