Advantage South Africa? Egypt set to drop key star for Bafana Bafana duel as Hugo Broos eyes back-to-back AFCON wins

Egypt head coach Hossam Hassan is set to drop Al Ahly attacking midfielder Emam Ashour for their Africa Cup of Nations match against South Africa.

Although Emam started against Zimbabwe, he lasted only for 33 minutes before he was replaced by Nantes striker Mostafa Mohamed. This was seen as a tactical change, as the Pharaohs were struggling at that point against the Warriors after conceding a shock early goal against the tournament minnows. 

The record African champions fought back to win courtesy of goals from English Premier League duo Omar Marmoush and Mohamed Salah.

With reports emerging that Ashour will not play against South Africa, coach Hossam explained why he withdrew the 27-year-old in the first half of their opening game.

“Emam Ashour is a great player, but he is not fully fit yet after a long absence. I decided to take him off to protect him from the pressure," the three-time AFCON winner explained, as per KingFut.

“There are no easy matches in this tournament. We want to compete for the title. Egypt is a big nation in Africa and has the right to fight for the trophy.”

The coach, even before the tournament kicked off in Morocco, stressed that their ambition is to win the trophy again. The Pharaohs are yet to lift it again since they did in 2010.

"Everyone in the Egyptian national team already has a winning mentality, which is fantastic. Thank God, I managed to win titles with the Egyptian national team as a player in 1986, 1998, and 2006," Hossam told CAFOnline.

"We will do everything possible to reach the top and lift the trophy again this year. Achieving that requires tremendous effort from every member of the team. Egypt is always among the favourites in any competition because of its rich history, particularly in the Africa Cup of Nations, where we hold the record with seven titles.

"As I said, we always play to win, which demands a lot from the players. The Egyptian squad has top players at both club and national levels, and they are highly motivated for this championship," he said.

I have great respect and admiration for them. All teams in the group are strong and have important, professional players. African football has developed a lot in recent years, but we will give our all to win the title and make the Egyptian people happy.”

As South Africa prepares to face Egypt, Bafana forward Lyle Foster said they are fully focused on the job ahead after beating Angola.

The Burnley star scored in the 2-1 win over their COSAFA rivals, and this goal came at a time he had been facing criticism.

However, he has been defended against the critics by a former Bafana head coach, Augusto Palacios.

"Sometimes people criticize and put the players' morale down. It is happening with Lyle Foster. When everyone played for the country last night, he contributed to the win," Palacios told KickOff.

"He never complained or answered negatively. It's important to support every player, scoring or not scoring, performing or not performing. Players are not doing stuff on purpose.

"All players try their best. It's very important to motivate everyone because the country is important. Well done, Lyle. Continue playing and representing South Africa."

Although Bafana did not play to the satisfaction of their coach, Hugo Broos, their mentor still said that all in all, they are ready to face the record AFCON champions.

As I have said already before the game, losing your first game puts you in trouble, so we tried to avoid it," Broos told the media.

"We suffered because there was no aggression anymore; there was no passion in the team. We played very slowly, and you felt that there would be a goal for the opponent, and the goal was there. We didn't find our usual game, so we put some things right."

"We are very happy with the victory, and now we can look forward to the game with Egypt on Friday."

This is going to be a decisive game, given that should either team win, they will take a giant step towards reaching the knockout stage of the competition.