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Mohamed Salah’ Egypt will meet Nigeria in 2022 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) group D opener on Tuesday evening. Liverpool other stars Sadio Mane (Senegal) and Naby Keita (Guinea) have also been in action for their respective countries.
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The Pharaohs’ skipper Mohamed Salah has referenced success at Liverpool when talking about his desire to win the Africa Cup of Nations.
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Speaking in his opening press conference before the tournament, Salah explained why winning AFCON with Egypt is on his to-do list of footballing achievements.
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Salah went on to say why his own individual awards that he’s won while at Liverpool do not stack up to success he achieves as part of a team.
“I think this is the only thing that I haven’t won yet.” Said Salah when talking about Egypt’s hopes of winning AFCON.
“I was lucky that we got to the World Cup (in 2018) after 28 years. But I always say that I would love to win something with my country.
“Every time I come to the national team, I am proud to wear the shirt. And I give my best to the team.
“I’ve won individual awards, but that’s not important. The team award always comes first.
“Hopefully we can do something this time. But I do not think that we are the first candidates for this tournament.
“We will do our best to win it. We have a good coach and a good team.
“We have a good group, I’ve played for the national team for 10-11 years now. So I know we have a very good team.
“We will give our best and hopefully we will win it.”
In an interview with GQ released on Monday, Salah went into further detail on his ambitions.
When asked about individual awards and becoming the best player in the world, Salah said: “I’m not really bothered by that.
“If you asked me if this was a drive for me to be here, Yeah, of course. I can’t really lie and say honestly I didn’t think about it. No, I think about it. I want to be the best player in the world.
“But I will have a good life even if I don’t win [the Ballon d’Or]. My life is OK. Everything is fine. Sometimes I feel it’s just politics.”
He added: “I want to qualify for the World Cup again, I want to win the African Cup [of Nations]”.