Salah's AFCON Hopes: After Four Failed Attempts, Can the Egyptian King Lift the Trophy?

Liverpool star Mohamed Salah heads to AFCON 2025 in Morocco chasing the one major trophy missing from his glittering career. After four failed attempts, Egypt’s talisman hopes this time will be different.

Egyptian football icon Mohamed Salah is a serial medal collector, helping Liverpool win the three domestic competitions, the Champions League and Super Cup in Europe and the Club World Cup. But there is one prized medal missing, and he gets a fifth chance to obtain it at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, which kicks off on Sunday.

Salah has come agonisingly close twice and, on two other occasions, has seen the record seven-time AFCON champions crash out in the first knockout round.

He created the goal that gave Egypt the lead in the 2017 final against Cameroon in Gabon, but a late goal gave the Indomitable Lions victory.

Hosts Egypt were favourites two years later, but suffered a stunning last-16 loss to South Africa in Cairo.

Salah and his teammates ground their way into the 2022 final in Cameroon, but after 120 goalless minutes against Senegal, Egypt lost the penalty shootout.

In the Ivory Coast last year, Salah converted a late penalty to salvage a draw in their opening group match against Mozambique, then was injured against Ghana and ruled out of the tournament.

He returned to Liverpool for treatment while Egypt lost another penalty shootout, this time to the Democratic Republic of Congo in a last-16 showdown.

After four consecutive failures Salah has every reason to wonder whether he will ever wear an AFCON winners' medal.

But pessimism is not part of the DNA of the 33-year-old prolific goal scorer Liverpool supporters call the "Egyptian king".

"I am confident that one day I will be part of an Egyptian team that wins the Africa Cup of Nations," he has told reporters several times.

But whereas Egypt were once the team to beat at an AFCON, they now face increasingly stiff competition and are no more than one of many potential winners in Morocco, with the hosts the favourites.

Egypt face Zimbabwe first in Group B, on December 22, then come potentially tougher matches against South Africa and Angola.

Striking options

Assuming the Pharaohs make it to the knockout phase, they must win four matches to be crowned champions for the first time since defeating Ghana in the 2010 final in Angola.

Head coach Hossam Hassan was once a leading striker and AFCON gold medallist and Salah is but one of his many exciting attacking options.

Among them are Omar Marmoush of Manchester City, Mostafa Mohamed of Nantes and two stars from record 12-time African club champions Al Ahly in Mahmoud 'Trezeguet' Hassan and Ahmed 'Zizo' El Sayed.

What may concern Hassan, though, is the form of veteran Ahly goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy, once the undisputed top goalkeeper in Africa but now error prone.

Salah arrived in Agadir, a coastal city in southern Morocco where they will play all three first round matches, after a week of drama concerning his future at Liverpool.

Upset at being a substitute for three straight matches, an emotional Salah told reporters after a draw at Leeds United that he had "been thrown under the bus".

He also believed his once good relationship with manager Arne Slot had deteriorated, and that he was the scapegoat for a dismal run by Liverpool in the Premier League and Champions League.

Amid speculation that he might leave Anfield during the January transfer window and move to the lucrative Saudi Pro League, Salah came off the bench last weekend in a 2-0 win over Brighton.

Slot insisted after the desperately needed victory that there was "no issue to resolve" with his star forward, who is in the first season of a new two-year contract.

Salah set up the second Liverpool goal for Hugo Ekitike to overtake Wayne Rooney as the player with the most goal involvements for a single club in Premier League history, reaching 277.

Salah has struggled for goals with the Reds this season. He hopes a change of scenery from Liverpool to Agadir will see him regain his clinical finishing touch.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)