Morsy, who plays for Ipswich Town, returns to the squad after being called up by Vitoria in September 2022 for friendlies against Niger and Liberia, but did not feature in either game. The 31-year-old midfielder's last appearance for Egypt was in 2018 against Swaziland.

Meanwhile, Montreal forward Ahmed Hamdy, who made a single appearance for the Pharaohs in June 2022 against South Korea, receives his second call-up and his first under coach Vitoria.

Trezeguet has been ruled out of the upcoming games after sustaining an injury during Trabzonspor's match against Umraniyespor. He was substituted after just 37 minutes, and reports suggest he will be out for two weeks with a muscle strain.

The squad also includes Liverpool star winger Mohamed Salah, Turkish-based Ahmed 'Kouka' Hassan, who made the cut despite being out of action since a deadly earthquake, and in-form midfielder Emam Ashour, who recently moved to Denmark in February.

The first game will be held on March 24th at Cairo International Stadium, with the second game taking place on March 28th at the Lilongwe Bingu National Stadium in Malawi's capital.

Egypt is currently third in Group D with three points after beating Guinea 1-0 at home but losing against Ethiopia in Addis Ababa.

List of foreign-based players

Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Ahmed Hegazy (Ittihad Jeddah), Tarek Hamed (Ittihad Jeddah), Ahmed “Kouka” Hassan (Alanyaspor, Turkey), Sam Morsy (Ipswich Town, England), Ahmed Hamdy (Montreal, Canada), Mostafa Mohamed (Nantes, France), Omar Marmoush (Wolfsburg, Germany), Emam Ashour (FC Midtjylland, Denmark). 

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