After a difficult season with English club Liverpool, Egyptian Mohamed Salah and Senegalese Sadio Mane are turning their attention to their tasks with their teams opening their campaigns in the 2023 African Cup of Nations qualifiers, hoping they won’t be affected by the fatigue and disappointment of losing in the Premier League battle this day: the last one in favor of Manchester City and the Champions League final in favor of Real Madrid.

Salah and the Egyptian team kick off their campaign in the 2023 African Cup of Nations qualifiers scheduled in Ivory Coast on Sunday in Cairo against Guinea in the fourth group competition before heading to Malawi on June 9 to face Ethiopia, at which there is no stadium that rises to the international level.

The qualifiers will open on Wednesday with three matches between Ghana in Madagascar and Angola in the Central African Republic in Group E, and Libya in Botswana in Group 10, with Tunisia facing their guest Equatorial Guinea on Thursday.

Senegal, led by Mane, is expected to have no difficulty securing the opportunity to defend the continental title and qualify for the twelfth group, in which he starts his campaign on Saturday against guest Benin before playing away three days later. from home against Rwanda.

The top two places in each of the 12 groups advance to the final.

– “The health of the player is the most important thing for me” –

And the Algerian team will not be able to count on another Premier League star in Manchester City striker Riyad Mahrez in Saturday’s matches against Uganda and host Tanzania, four days later in Group F.

There was an uproar over his not being called up, especially as he posted pictures of him while on holiday in Marrakesh, prompting national team coach Jamal Belmadi to respond on Monday, saying the case didn’t warrant all those questions, and that “the health of the player the most important thing for me. We got a report from the club and that’s enough for me. I have never called an injured player to check on his injury.”

Mahrez will not be the first major absentee at the start of the continental qualifier as the Gabon squad lack the services of current Barcelona striker and former Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in his two Group I matches against the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mauritania. , but not because of an injury, but because he made the decision to retire from international football.

As usual, Salah and Mane will receive more attention than any other player on the African continent, and for good reason, but because of their position among the best strikers in the world, which has allowed them to take turns taking the award for the best African player over the past two years.

Undoubtedly, the players will play their two matches in their home countries in a difficult physical situation after a busy season with Liverpool, prompting the Fivepro Professional Players Association to require that a player’s number of matches not exceed 55 in a single season, warning that such stars, like Salah and Mani, pushed to their physical limits.

Vincent Gottebarge, chief medical officer of Fifpro, bluntly stated that “such a work environment contributes to the development of mental health problems.”

German Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp sympathizes with his two African stars, saying: “Mane and Salah have two weeks of vacation a year from physically demanding jobs.”

Short flight distances between European countries help national team stars there, but Mane, Salah and hundreds of other Africans regularly spend several hours in the air, punctuated by lengthy transfers.

When the teams from the south of the continent play in the hospitality of the teams from the north, they usually travel via the Emirates or Qatar due to the lack of direct flights and cost cutting.

– logistical problems –

While several wealthy national associations charter planes to fly their national teams, it’s no surprise that other teams on the continent break teams into multiple tour groups that take days to reach their destination.

In addition to logistical problems, 16 of the 45 countries competing for the 23 qualifying places in the final, which Côte d’Ivoire reached directly as hosts, will not be able to host matches on their territory in June due to the low level of stadiums. .

Morocco will host matches from Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Mauritius and Liberia, while South Africa will be the temporary home of Mozambique, Namibia, Eswatini and Lesotho.

“The stadium, dressing rooms and spectator areas are subject to review and other issues before a decision is made on their suitability,” a CAF spokesman told AFP.

South Africa officially protested after Liberia announced they would play their home match in the eleventh group against Morocco on the latter’s soil, believing it would give the Atlas Lions a clear advantage in the second round points decision on 13 June. after the first game on home soil on Monday. Next up is South Africa.

These qualifiers feature a number of major teams under new coaches, including Egypt, Nigeria and Ivory Coast participating in the qualifiers despite their direct qualification.

Ivory Coast, which hosted the tournament in 1984, has chosen Frenchman Jean-Louis Gasse, who started his career against Zambia, which has failed since surprising the world by winning the title in 2012, to play in the last three tournaments .

But there is hope for a brighter future under newly appointed Croatian coach Alyosha Asanovic.

Without reaching an agreement to extend the contract with the Egyptian Federation, the Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz left the Pharaohs, leaving the task to Ihab Galal, who changed his job at the Pyramids to one of the most responsible positions in Africa.

As for Nigeria, Portuguese manager José Peseiro’s start has not been promising as he lost a 1-2 friendly in the USA against Mexico and he will have another prep opportunity against Ecuador before starting out in Group A against Sierra Leone and Mauritius, 9 and 13 June.