The Board of the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) has revealed their age-old practice of offering animal sacrifices to help them achieve results at major tournaments by disclosing they offered a calf for sacrifice to secure qualification to the R16 of the 2023 AFCON.
The Board reportedly declared that a calf had been killed and that the meat had been shared for the underprivileged.
They say this is to prevent further injuries and draws for the Egyptian Pharaohs at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Cote D’Ivoire.
The Board feels that by making this sacrifice, the squad will be shielded from injuries and will not have to draw games during the competition.
Similar preparations were made during Egypt’s 2008 AFCON campaign in Ghana, which resulted in Egypt’s second consecutive AFCON title victory.
Egypt was one of the favourites going into this tournament, but they haven’t lived up to the hype after drawing all of their games.
Egypt finished with three points after drawing 2-2 with Ghana, Cape Verde, and Mozambique, but advanced to the round of 16 as a consequence of Ghana and Mozambique’s 2-2 draw in the last group match.
Regarding injuries, Egypt has been severely disrupted by the hamstring injury sustained by key player Mohammed Salah. In the event that Egypt advances all the way to the AFCON championship on February 11, the Liverpool player is anticipated to play again.
Salah is back in Liverpool receiving intensive care for his hamstring injury.