Egypt’s coach Hossam El-Badry has called up Zamalek's left back Abdallah Gomaa ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Kenya and Comoros to replace his teammate Ahmed Abu El-Fotouh, who has been feeling ill in the past couple of days.

According to a statement published on the Egyptian Football Association’s (EFA) website, Abu El-Fotouh has been feeling sick and has been running a fever, which prevented him from training.

He underwent a PCR test which came out negative, the statement added.

“I felt sick two days ago and suffered from a cold and a fever. I did not participate in the training session yesterday and today,” the 23-year full back told Zamalek’s official website.

Egypt is set to face Kenya in Nairobi on Thursday and Abu El-Fotouh will not be fit to play the game, thus, El-Badry decided to drop him from the trip.

Abu El-Fotouh has been in impressive form at Zamalek, settling in as a regular starter ahead of Abdallah Gomaa and veteran skipper Mohamed Abdel-Shafi.

Abu El-Fotouh, a 2019 U23 Africa Cup of Nations winner and a key member of the Pharaohs U23 team, has already made three appearances with the senior squad. 

Egypt are on top of Group G with 8 points and need a victory or a draw against Kenya to secure their qualification to AFCON before hosting Comores four days later.

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