Blues skipper Sam Morsy has been named in a 55-man provisional Egypt squad ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations in Côte d’Ivoire in January.
Morsy, 32, has previously won nine full caps, the most recent two in September. However, he was then left out of the squads for the October and November internationals and is looking less likely to make the final cut than appeared to be the case a couple of months ago.
Asked last week whether he believes he has a chance of being named in the 27-man party travelling to the finals - which would see him miss up to five Town Championship games - Morsy said: "You never know. Obviously, I didn’t get called up to the last one, which showed where I’m at at the minute.
"But you never know, we’ll see what happens. But at the moment that’s not in my focus really. It’s just one game at a time and I think that’s how I prepare best and sort of keep my energy and keep my mental energy high.”
Earlier today, Morsy’s regular midfield partner Luongo announced his retirement from international action with Australia.
Town look certain to be without two players for the AFC Asian Cup with Cameron Burgess set to be called up by the Socceroos and Elkan Baggott by Indonesia.