At one end of the pitch, Mohamed Salah, who minutes earlier had sent Egypt through with a chipped Panenka down the middle, stood alone for a moment and applauded the crowd, tears in his eyes, before his teammates pulled him into a mob that would later place a Tutankhamun headdress on his head. At the other end, Lucas Herrington turned his back on the crossbar that had just denied him, put one arm to his curly hair, and bent over to hide his face. He is eighteen, already the youngest starter Australia have ever fielded at a World Cup, and will now be remembered for the kick that sent Egypt through instead.
Both moments happened within the same ninety seconds, on the same patch of grass in Arlington, Texas. Egypt had just beaten Australia 4-2 on penalties to reach the World Cup last 16 for the first time in their history. Their only previous appearance this deep was in 1934, when the tournament had sixteen teams and they lost 4-2 to Hungary. Australia have their own version of this wait, beaten in the round of 16 in both 2006 and 2022.
Before kickoff, Salah, 34, gathered his teammates in the tunnel. “I told the boys before the game, guys, this is the biggest game you could play in your life, so just enjoy it,” he said afterward. “I didn’t know if that was my last World Cup moment or not, but I had to do it.” He had said it as a man with nowhere else to play, his Liverpool career over weeks earlier with a farewell at Anfield, arriving in Texas without a club to return to.
He was not the only one in tears. Manager Hossam Hassan, a three-time Africa Cup of Nations winner, cried too, and dedicated the win to a cause far from the pitch. “My heart and soul are with the Palestinian people,” he said. “I thank them and dedicate this victory to them. We succeeded in making Arab people proud.”
The match that produced all this offered little of its own. Egypt led early: Emam Ashour’s own free kick was blocked, the ball came back off Jackson Irvine, and Ashour, unmarked at the back post, headed it in. Omar Marmoush should have doubled the lead early in the second half but dragged a chance wide, and it cost Egypt when Aiden O’Neill’s looping free kick found its way in off Mohammed Hany’s head ten minutes later, an equaliser that owed as much to the cross as the touch. Hany finished the tournament as the first player in World Cup history to score two own goals in one edition.
Salah, quiet for most of the night despite finishing the tournament with more touches in the box than anyone else, came alive when it mattered least and almost when it mattered most. In the closing minutes of normal time he swept in a cross for Rami Rabia that Patrick Beach somehow palmed over, then had a shot of his own blocked soon after. Marmoush set him up again in extra time, and this time Salah skied it over the bar, his one blemish on an otherwise flawless night. Whatever fitness doubts lingered after his injury against Iran were answered by the grin he gave Harry Souttar at the coin toss.
Australia’s goalkeeper gamble
Neither side could find a way through after that, and Australia’s coach Tony Popovic made the gamble that would define the night. He withdrew Beach, who had been outstanding, and sent on his captain, Mat Ryan, purely for the shootout. Ryan never got near a single kick. Souttar’s opening effort sailed over the bar before he even had to move. Herrington, stepping up with more experienced teammates still on the pitch, side-footed his attempt too high, into the same crossbar that had already beaten Souttar. Awer Mabil reached him first, then a visibly shaken Jackson Irvine, then Nestory Irankunda, a foot shorter than him, who wrapped him in an embrace.
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Australia’s goalkeeper missed penalty, resulting in his team’s exit from the World Cup. (AP)
Between those misses, Mahmoud Saber and Rami Rabia scored theirs for Egypt without fuss. Then came Salah, stepping up to the third kick with the chance to all but finish it. “If somebody would do it, it would be me,” he said. “I am more experienced than others, I wanted to give the team confidence. I decided last minute, but I had to do it.”
Hossam Abdelmaguid took the fourth and last. He puffed out his cheeks, slowed his run-up to a crawl, checked his stride, and rolled it to his right as Ryan dived the other way. He ran to the corner and tore off his shirt before the rest of Egypt reached him.
Both teams had come to Dallas chasing the same thing, a first World Cup knockout win each had waited a lifetime for. The shootout only had room for one of them.
