Egypt goalkeeper Mohamed El-Shenawy has apologised to fans after failing to qualify for the World Cup following their defeat against Senegal.
The Pharaohs failed to book a spot in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar after losing to Senegal over two legs in the final round of the qualifiers.
Despite going into the second leg with an advantage following their 1-0 victory in Cairo, Egypt couldn’t capitalise on their momentum and conceded an early goal in the return leg and tie the game on aggregate.
Senegal had many chances to put the game to bed throughout the 120 minutes played but Mohamed El-Shenawy’s heroics kept Egypt in the tie.
The 33-year-old goalkeeper put an outstanding performance and made a total of nine saves to keep the aggregate scoreline at 1-1 and send the game to penalties.
However, the penalty shootout saw Liverpool star Mohamed Salah shockingly sky his penalty in Egypt’s first attempt with teammates Ahmed Sayed Zizo and Mostafa Mohamed also missing from the spot.
Following the game, El-Shenawy issued an apology on behalf of the national team players and has promised fans that they will be back stronger.
“We apologize to all fans who shared the same dream of us qualifying for the World Cup,” El-Shenawy said on his Instagram account.
“We did our best to earn [World Cup] qualification, and unfortunately, we didn’t succeed. We are even more upset that we let down 110 million Egyptians.
“Hopefully, there will be opportunities where we can make it up for yesterday’s defeat,” he added.
Source: Kingfut.com
