It was fitting that it was Mo Salah who scored to put Egypt ahead in their World Cup match against New Zealand a little over a week ago. The Pharaohs, for all their achievements in Africa, had never won a World Cup match. Fighting back from 1-0 down to the All Whites, Salah helped engineer a long-awaited victory, at the same time moving to within one of Egypt’s record goalscorer Hossam Hassan, also the team’s coach at this tournament.
“In years to come, we will remember that this was one of the achievements in history,” Salah said after the match, which finished 3-1 and all but secured the nation’s progression to the last 32.
As Hassan, Salah and the players were celebrating in Vancouver, swarming fans brought honking traffic to a standstill in Cairo to recognise the achievement.
“Egyptians always knew that in past World Cups, whether that be in 1990 or in 2018, we always had the idea that the team has what it takes to get through the group stage,” says Saher Ahmed, a journalist with Egyptian football website KingFut. “But somehow we never do.”
Salah has been a stalwart for Egypt across 119 appearances, including reaching the 2018 World Cup, but his international career has been defined by near misses. He has never won the African Cup of Nations, making his debut for the Pharaohs a year after their most recent success in 2010 – their third win in succession.
“People still look at certain players who played for the 2006, 2008 and 2010 teams, and they’re confused as to why some players were able to be stars at that time and Salah – who has had a much better club career – hasn’t been able to do half of what they did,” Ahmed says. “Salah is obviously the best player ever to play for this national team, but not with this national team.”
This World Cup campaign – likely Salah’s last – therefore carries extra weight. Apart from his goal, he assisted Emam Ashour’s opener in the 1-1 draw with Belgium in Seattle and his corner was headed in by Trezeguet for the sealer in the victory over New Zealand.
According to Ahmed, a deep run at this World Cup would enhance the standing of Salah, but without an Afcon title he would still struggle to usurp former Al Ahly forward and Egypt teammate of Hossan, Mohamed Aboutrika, as the greatest Egyptian player of all time. “Even though people acknowledge he’s achieved much more than Aboutrika, they still see Aboutrika as a much more useful player for the national team and a much more skilful player.”
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Traditionally a forward playing off the right wing, Salah is known for cutting in on to his preferred left foot. But in this tournament he has adopted a more central starting position, playing off Omar Marmoush in the first two games, although Trezeguet replaced the Manchester City forward in the starting side for the match against Iran. “I think it’s a new version of Mo Salah at the moment,” Hassan said before the Iran match. “He plays in a new position, he plays very freely in a very creative way.”
Any optimism around the team, however, was tempered by the sight of Salah coming off against Iran and icing his hamstring. The longtime Liverpool striker left Anfield on the eve of the tournament after a season marred by a feud with now-departed manager Arne Slot and a slow softening of his legendary cutting edge. For fans of Egypt however, the season ended with more pressing concerns.
Salah limped off against Crystal Palace in April, and there were fears his World Cup might be in jeopardy. What appeared to be a hamstring injury was subsequently described by Liverpool as a “minor muscle injury”, and he returned to farewell fans in a final appearance in May.
There was some consternation therefore when, against Iran, Salah asked to be substituted with half an hour remaining, and he was seen icing his hamstring on the bench. It looked like he might have aggravated that injury, and that his World Cup was again at risk. “Hardcore fans who watch the sport a lot were worried, but [other] people don’t have that much anticipation that Egypt is going to go through,” Ahmed says.
After jogging in trainers at Egypt training on Monday, Salah was pictured in the main group on Tuesday wearing boots. A post on the Egyptian Football Association’s social media said he participated in a portion of the session.
For Salah, not only is there a place in the last 16 on the line – and a likely clash against holders Argentina – Egypt’s talisman is just one goal from equalling Hassan as the country’s record goalscorer with his tally of 69.
The controversial manager won the African Cup of Nations as a player three times across a 20-year career, lifting the trophy at home in 2006 as captain at 40. “The most important thing is that we win,” Hassan said before the tournament. “If [Salah] scores those goals, it’s good for Egypt, and good for me personally … because it will make a difference to me as a manager, and it means our generations complete one another.”
Ahmed believes Egypt’s campaign is already a success, whatever happens from here. “We already made history,” he said. “[The Socceroos match] is more than a bonus game, but it’s also a bit, ‘at least we finally did that.’”
