Ahly's Walid Soliman (L) celebrates his goal against ES Tunisia during the CAF Champions League final football match (Photo: AFP)
The Egypt team's assistant coach Hany Ramzy has praised Ahly’s Walid Soliman but said that the strategy of the national team at this stage is to try new blood.
“We all saw Soliman’s stunning performance and his role with Ahly in the CAF Champions League. His exclusion doesn’t mean he is not a good player, but we have priorities at this stage and he may be named in the future,” Ramzy told an Egyptian TV station on Sunday.
Egypt manager Javier Aguirre announced his squad of local based players on Sunday, but Soliman was not on it.
“Leaving him out doesn’t mean it is permanent. We know how good he is but at this point we aim at trying new players,” Ramzy added.
Soliman has been Ahly’s number one star lately, scoring six times to lead his side to its second CAF Champions League final in a row. Given his performance, some fans have strong feelings about his continuing exclusion from the national team’s squad.
Egypt will host Tunisia at Borg El Arab Stadium on 16 November in the fifth round of the African Cup of Nations qualifiers; both teams have already booked their places in the Cameroon finals.
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