Mohamed Salah scores direct from corner, strains muscle in Egypt romp - in pictures

Salah went down holding his leg as the Group J match against eSwatini drew to a close in Cairo, resumed after receiving treatment, and was almost immediately withdrawn

Egypt's Mohamed Salah leaves the field injured during the 4-1 Africa Cup of Nations win over eSwatini at the Al Salam Stadium, Cairo. Reuters

Mohamed Salah scored direct from a corner in the 4-1 win over eSwatini. Reuters

Egypt's Mohamed Salah takes on the eSwatini defence. Reuters

Mohamed Salah scored direct from a corner in the 4-1 win over eSwatini. Reuters

Egypt's Mohamed Salah leaves the field injured during the 4-1 Africa Cup of Nations win over eSwatini at the Al Salam Stadium, Cairo. Reuters

Egypt's Ayman Ashraf in action with eSwatini's Barry Steenkamp. Reuters

Fasn holding a banner of Egypt's Mohamed Salah. Reuters

Egyp captain Ahmed Elmohamady celebrates a goal. Reutes

Egypt's Aly Mohamed in action with eSwatini's Tony Tsabedze. Reuters

Mohamed Salah is a major doubt for Egypt's next Africa Cup of Nations match on Tuesday after the Liverpool forward scored but was later injured in Friday's 4-1 romp over eSwatini.

Salah went down holding his leg as the Group J match drew to a close in Cairo, resumed after receiving treatment, and was almost immediately withdrawn.

A spokesman for the team's medical department told the www.kooora.com website Salah "had a light strain, we will do a scan as soon as possible.

"I doubt he can play next Tuesday. We will be sure after the scan," he added, referring to the return match against eSwatini in Manzini.

Salah had netted only three times this term heading into the match as he struggles to replicate the 44 goals of 2017/18. He rediscovered his scoring touch against lowly-ranked eSwatini (formerly Swaziland), curling a corner into the net on the stroke of half time with Egypt already three goals to the good at the Al Salam Stadium.

Salah fluffed a chance to net again by missing from inside the box during the second half after combining with Arsenal midfielder Mohamed Elneny.

Captain Ahmed Elmohamady, Amr Warda and Mahmoud Hassan also scored for Egypt and Sibonginkosi Gamedze snatched a late eSwatini goal.

Tunisia, who host Niger Saturday, and Egypt have six points each in a mini-league both seem certain to qualify from for the 2019 Cup of Nations in Cameroon.

_______________

Read more:

In pictures: Neymar's Brazil make heavy work of beating Saudi Arabia in friendly

In pictures: Empty stands a 'sad' sight for Croatia's Zlatko Dalic in England stalemate

Steve Luckings: Africa Cup of Nations offers Mohamed Salah chance to regain scoring touch

Ian Hawkey: Afcon 2019 hosts Cameroon need improvement on and off the pitch

_______________

Elsewhere in qualifying, Jonathan Kodjia, Manchester United defender Eric Bailly, Cheick Doukoure and Maxwel Cornet scored for the Ivory Coast as they crushed the Central African Republic 4-0 in Bouake.

In the other Group H match, Guinea defeated Rwanda 2-0 in Conakry through goals from Francois Kamano and Ibrahima Cisse to stay three points ahead of the Ivorians.

Angola ended the perfect, two-victory Group I record of Mauritania by recovering from conceding a third-minute goal to triumph 4-1 in Luanda.

Captain Mateus da Costa turned the tide with goals after 12 and 16 minutes, levelling from a penalty before volleying his team into the lead.

An Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting goal earned Cameroon a 1-0 Group B win over Malawi in Yaounde, and Dutch manager Clarence Seedorf his first success in charge of the "Indomitable Lions".

Defending champions Cameroon would be guaranteed a place among the 24 finalists next year as hosts, but opted to participate in the mini-league phase to gain competitive match practice.

There also remains doubts as to whether Cameroon will be ready to host the 2019 edition, with the Confederation of African Football raising concerns on a recent trip to the country over its backlog in terms of infrastructural work on hotels and stadiums.

If Cameroon were to be stripped as hosts, they would need to qualify outright. Seedorf's squad top their group with seven points.

Group C pacesetters Mali were held 0-0 by second-place Burundi in Bamako after captain Abdoulaye Diaby missed a penalty in the last minute of regular time.

Algeria top Group D thanks to a 2-0 win over Benin in Blida with Ramy Bensebaini and Baghdad Bounedjah scoring.

New Gabon coach Daniel Cousin saw his team defeat South Sudan 3-0 in Libreville, Togo snatched a 1-1 draw with the Gambia in Lome and Cape Verde outplayed Tanzania 3-0 in Praia.