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.

Photo: NURPHOTO

Radlett_blue added 13:32 - Dec 20 Unfortunately, the organisers have increased squad sizes to a bloated 27 players, but hopefully Morsy won't make the cut & will be available for Town.
4

itfcserbia added 13:35 - Dec 20 55-man provisional squad? Are there any Egyptian players left-out?
6

tractorboybig added 13:40 - Dec 20 lets hope he does not make the cut
4

JewellintheTown added 13:57 - Dec 20 Was going to say he had no chance with a small name like Sam Morsy, but then I saw his full name as Samy Sayed Mekkawy Saeid. Got to feel for the person doing the roll call though on match day.
4

PortmanTerrorist added 14:02 - Dec 20 Such a dilemma. Hope for Sammy that he makes the cut, but it will surely cost us. Am thinking you do not go from fringe player (at best) to starting in a Tournament and that just maybe he is better off at Town; after all if he gets us promoted and performs as we know he can in the Prem, he would be a certainty for Egypt then. And if he did go then am guessing we would look to strengthen in midfield and who knows if he gets his place back...sounds mad, but crazier things have happened.

3

Lukeybluey added 14:37 - Dec 20 If Morsy does go to the ACON we should look at Niklas Dorsch from Augsburg as replacement/cover. Similar style to Morsy, combative and can pick a pass. Seen him a few times as I like watching the German leagues too, and when I've seen him play always thought he could fit our style...whether or not we could afford him is a different question...
2

gosblue added 17:24 - Dec 20 At a stretch we could push Woolfie or Clarke into the hole as DM I seem to remember Trevoh Chalobah doing a decent job for us in there.
0

midastouch added 19:55 - Dec 20 Even just the thought of losing our beloved captain Sam Morsy to Eqypt in January, it’s not Pharaoh!
1

ghostofescobar added 21:51 - Dec 20 If he does go, hope he gets that last yellow card in the final game before he goes then serves the ban. Or does it not work like that? Hang on, that could be awful if the ban is added to his time away with Egypt.
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IpswichT62OldBoy added 10:29 - Dec 21 We will miss Burgess.
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herobobby added 11:33 - Dec 21 I went to Egypt in 1989 on a boys holiday, so i will probably be in the squad ill check
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blues1 added 12:46 - Dec 21 Ghostofescobar of course it doesn't work like that. As if international football has,anything to do with club football. Ifxhexgotchis booking lastxgame before going, he'd miss thex1st 2 games,when he returned.
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