Egypt's assistant coach Michel Salgado has lamented the missed scoring chances by the Pharaohs in Friday's African Cup of Nations opener against Zimbabwe, hailing the performance of the team's duo Mohamed Salah and Mahmoud Trezeguet.
"Salah and Mahmoud Trezeguet managed to create many scoring chances. Trezeguet scored the winning goal while Salah wasted two or three chances," the former Real Madrid full-back Salgado told ON Sport TV channel after the match.
Winger Mahmoud Trezeguet netted in the first half to give the Pharaohs a narrow 1-0 over Zimbabwe to go top of Group A.
"We had the chance to score four or five goals but we didn't do that as we delivered good performance in the first half before retreating after the break," the assistant coach explained.
"Our performance retreated in the second half for many reasons, but the prominent one was seeing the players suffering physically," he added.
Egypt, the record seven-time African champions, will face DR Congo in their next game on Wednesday before meeting Uganda in their last Group A match on 30 June.
"We want to think of the coming game after achieving an important step, as the opening matches are always difficult," concluded Salgado.
With Javier Aguirre at the helm, the Pharaohs are optimistic about winning the precious title of AFCON champions for the first time since 2010, the last of their record seven victories.
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