Mohamed Salah joins Egypt training ahead of Malawi double-header

Egypt held their first training session under new head coach Ali Maher on Tuesday evening as preparations began for two Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Malawi.

Egypt will face Malawi in the third and fourth rounds of the African qualifying campaign on 13 and 17 November.

The full squad gathered together for the first time since Maher was appointed to lead the national team. Egypt’s training camp began on Monday evening, with the new coaching staff overseeing preparations.

Mohamed Salah, the Trabzonspor forward, joined the camp on Tuesday morning. He was followed by the other overseas-based players: Celtic midfielder Haytham Hassan, Barcelona striker Hamza Abdelkarim and Nordsjaelland forward Ibrahim Adel.

Nice defender Mohamed Abdelmonem also took part in the session despite carrying an injury. His involvement was intended to help determine whether he will be available for the two matches against Malawi.

The Egypt coaching staff is headed by Maher as manager. Mohamed Abdelkarim and Tamer Mostafa are the assistant coaches, while Mostafa Fathi is the goalkeeping coach.

Mahmoud Selim and Abdelrahman El-Zoghbi have been appointed performance analysts. Diego Giacchino and Wael Raafat are responsible for workload planning.

The Egyptian Football Association will hold a news conference at 13:00 on Wednesday to formally present the new national team coaching staff.

Egypt currently lead Group Two with four points, ahead of Angola on goal difference. Malawi are third with three points, while South Sudan are bottom without a point.

Egypt opened their qualifying campaign with a goalless draw against Angola before recording a 5-0 victory over South Sudan.