Follow up – Ahmed Maher: Ivory Coast defender Kolo Toure insisted the Tottenham Hotspur striker Ahmed Hossam’s “Mido” absence from their African Cup of Nations (ACN) final against Egypt will give the Pharaohs a morale boost.

“Mido is an excellent player, but his absence will not affect the team negatively, on the contrary, they will want to prove that they weren’t affected by the absence of their most prominent star,” Toure told Filgoal.com exclusively on Thursday.

The Arsenal star insisted that Ivory Coast match against Egypt wont be easy, especially in front of 80,000 eager Egyptian fans, but indicated that it’s how much the team gives in the match is what counts.

Ivorian teammate Emmanuel Eboue agreed with Toure’s opinion regarding the match and said: “The match will be very hard, Egypt are a very strong team. I will be very happy if we win.”

Toure also confirmed that he recuperated from the injury he picked up during Ivory Coast’s match against Cameroon in the African Cup quarter-finals.

Egypt will play against Ivory Coast in the African Cup final on Friday at the Cairo International Stadium.