Coach of the Egyptian national team Javier Aguirre has refused to blame the absence of star player Mohammed Salah as the reason why they lost 0-1 to Nigeria in a pre AFCON 2019 friendly tie on Tuesday in Asaba.
The loss is the first Egypt have suffered since the appointment of Aguirre and it came without the services of their top striker Mohammed Salah of Liverpool.
However Aguirre refuse to blame the loss on the absence of the Liverpool forward although he admitted that his presence would have given them a cutting edge upfront against the defence of Nigeria.
” No we didn’t lose because of the absence of Salah, it was a good game and a chance to try new players. I played six new players in the team now we can see how well they can be for us. The game was decided in the opening seconds. It was a good game for both teams”, Aguirre said after the game.
” The goal scored by Nigeria very early into the game decided the contest. It was the difference between both sides but I’m happy because we gave a good account of ourselves against a very good Nigerian team”, he concluded.
Ade Emmanuel
