Egypt Coach Calls for Afcon Final Delayed: "Senegal Had 1 More Day to Train"

• Egypt have needed extra time in all three of their AFCON knockout ties, including the recent win over Cameroon
• The Pharaohs are set for a showdown against Senegal on Sunday, February 6, less than 48 hours since their game against the tournament hosts
• Egypt’s assistant coach however believes his side need a bit more time to rest and recover before taking on Senegal, who have won all their matches within 90 minutes

Egypt assistant coach, Diaa Al-Sayed has called on the Africa Cup of Nations final to be delayed by at least 24 hours.

The Pharaohs beat Cameroon 3-1 in a penalty shootout after a goalless 120 minutes in Yaounde on Thursday, February 3 to set up a final against Senegal.

The final is scheduled to take place on Sunday, February 6.

It was a game in which Egypt had to dig deep as Cameroon were the better side in terms of chances created throughout the 90 minutes.

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Speaking after the game, Diaa Al-Sayed appealed to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to push the final to Monday to allow his team to have ample time to rest.

“I want to state to all CAF authorities that Senegal has one extra day to train and therefore, maybe we should play the final on Monday,” he told media as quoted by BBC.

He was on media duty because Egypt boss Carlos Queiroz was sent off during the game.

The third/fourth place playoff involving Cameroon and Burkina Faso was also moved to Saturday but was initially scheduled to take place the same day as the AFCON final.

Egypt’s gruelling knockout campaign

Egypt have not had a straightforward AFCON campaign by any stretch.

After an opening defeat to Nigeria, the Pharaohs clawed consecutive 1-0 wins against Guinea Bissau and Sudan to proceed to the round of 16.

Queiroz’s men have needed extra time in all their three knockout matches in their road to the final.

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They eliminated Ivory Coast via penalties while they had to find a winning goal against Morocco in extra time before seeing off Cameroon via a shootout as well.

On the other hand, Senegal has been quite efficient in their knockout ties, though one could argue their matches were fairly more straightforward than Egypt.

After a 2-0 win over Cape Verde in the last 16, the Lions of Teranga beat Equitorial Guinea 3-1 in the quarter-finals before reciprocating the same scoreline against Burkina Faso in the semis.

Salah engaged in row with referee during Cameroon game

One standout moment from the Egypt-Cameroon game was Mohammed Salah’s heated argument with Gambian referee Bakary Papa Gassama

Salah seemed agitated by something after 90 minutes and he went to make his feelings clear to the match officials.

Interestingly, the refs were not intimidated by the Egyptian superstar and Gassama was quick to diffuse the situation by ushering Salah away.