While Egypt drew 0-0 with Mali, Ghana opened its campaign in the same group with a 1-0 win over Uganda. Ghana now leads the group with three points followed by Egypt and Mali with one each and Uganda at the bottom of Group D with no points. Egypt not only failed to gain three points and score an opening victory but it also lost another goalkeeper to injury. Ahmed Al-Shennawi was forced to leave the field 23 minutes into the game. According to team doctor Mohamed Abul-Ela, Al-Shennawi's injury was diagnosed as a right hamstring muscle tear which needs three to four weeks to treat. Three days before Egypt played Mali, goalkeeper Sherif Ikrami was also injured during training with a strain to the left hamstring muscle and is currently under treatment. Those two major injuries have left Egypt in difficulties with only two goalkeepers, Essam Al-Hadari and Ikrami. Against Mali, Al-Hadari replaced the injured Al-Shennawi, becoming the oldest player to ever play in the ACN, at age 44. Ikrami is not 100 per cent fit which means that Al-Hadari might have to carry the whole load from here on in. According to the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations regulations, Article 72.2 says a player on the final list cannot be replaced unless seriously injured 24 hours before the beginning of the first match of the team in the tournament. “Since we have already played our first game and Al-Shennawi was injured in the first half, we have no right to ask for a replacement. We will depend on Al-Hadari and hope Ikrami will recover soon,” said Hani Abu Rida, president of the Egyptian Football Association. Head coach of the Egyptian team Hector Cuper told reporters at a post match press conference that the Pharaohs were in a critical situation on two counts. “We drew the first game and now we have to win the other two matches. Usually my strategy is to play to win and we wanted to beat Mali but unfortunately we didn't. Then, there is the problem of our goalkeepers. We will see how to deal with this matter,” he said. The Mali versus Egypt match was the last in the first round of the group stages. Egypt's next game is against Uganda on Saturday 21 January. It's third and last game in the group stage is with Ghana on Wednesday 26 January. Only the top two teams in the four groups advance to the quarter-finals.
