Mohamed

For some Egyptian football fans, watching Mohamed Salah qualify with Egypt for two World Cups in 2018 and 2026 will never make up for the fact that the “golden generation” did not get their shot in 2006, 2010 or 2014.

“It is unfair to compare the two generations,” Ahmed Elshiekh, a former national team player who now covers the World Cup for Modern MTI TV, told Al Jazeera.

“The golden generation did everything but get to the World Cup. They beat Italy [when they were World Cup champions]. The draw in qualification was just unkind to them.”

Salah is the captain and leader of the current generation. He won every trophy on offer while playing for Liverpool in a glittering nine-year career that saw him become the highest scoring foreigner in the history of the English Premier League.

Given his status, it is perhaps no surprise that Salah shouldered the blame for an AFCON drought that stretches back to 2010. His achievement in dragging Egypt to the 2018 World Cup in Russia is brushed aside due to the fact that Egypt was the first team to be eliminated. A half-fit Salah, who had dislocated his shoulder in the UEFA Champions League final, scored twice, but Egypt lost all three matches, including to Saudi Arabia.

The failures were compounded when Egypt lost the 2021 AFCON final to Senegal on penalty kicks. Thirteen months later, Egypt met Senegal in a World Cup playoff and once again lost on penalty kicks. In the first shootout, Salah was designated as the fifth taker but never got a chance to take his penalty. For the second shootout, perhaps realising his mistake, he went first and missed.

Salah might have been one of the best players in the Premier League, but Egypt fans were frustrated. To soothe their pain, they hung on to the memories of a team that was crowned African champions in 2006, 2008 and 2010 – successes that were spearheaded by the legendary midfielder Mohamed Aboutrika, who is equally famous for his “Sympathise with Gaza” T-shirt as he is for his immaculate first touch.

The despondence was so deep that fans had lost hope for their national team. AFCON 2023 was blighted by an injury to Salah, who elected to return to Liverpool for rehabilitation but promised to return should the team advance to the final. Egypt’s tournament ended shortly after that statement, courtesy of a penalty shootout defeat in the round of 16.

Working at that time as an analyst for Egyptian TV, now-Egypt manager Hossam Hassan said that if Salah had done that on his watch, he would “never pick him for the national team again”.

A couple of weeks later, Hassan was appointed to lead the national team after Rui Vitoria’s dismissal.

It was widely speculated that the only reason the Egyptian Football Association hired Hassan was because the currency crisis had prevented them from attracting a foreign manager.

“Hossam Hassan as a player has achieved everything you can imagine,” Elsheikh said, referencing the former striker’s record 69 goals for Egypt and three AFCON titles.

“But as a manager, we saw what he can produce, and the results were not great. … Also he brought problems and created crises.”

The crises Elsheikh referred to have been a hallmark of Hassan’s journeyman coaching career marked by brawls and altercations with fans.

But the appointment proved to be a stroke of unintended genius.

Salah finds form under Hassan

Instead of falling out with Salah, he and Hassan became joined at the hip. If there was anyone who could understand the pressure of Salah’s position, it was Hassan, who had lived it all before but with the added pressure of having played mostly in Egypt and having crossed the Cairo divide when he left Al Ahly to sign with bitter rivals Zamalek.

“Hassan does have a captain’s personality and is very energetic. He might not be the strongest tactically, but he does provide a solid defensive base” Elsheikh said.

Salah has enjoyed a rich vein of form under Hassan’s tutelage. Egypt qualified for the 2026 World Cup undefeated, winning eight out of their 10 matches. The team also reached the semifinals of the 2025 AFCON tournament – not that the achievement silenced any of the doubters.

Of course, it’s not all about Salah. Egypt have a raft of talented players, including Man City’s Omar Marmoush and Al Ahly’s Emam Ashour.

Their undefeated team is going into the round of 16 to face defending champions Argentina on Tuesday. Egypt have overcome a great deal of adversity to reach this stage of the tournament as well.

A second-half comeback against New Zealand in the group stage was needed to secure the nation’s first win at a World Cup. Salah exited the final group game against Iran with a hamstring injury but played all 120 minutes of the penalty shootout win over Australia in the last 32. The 34-year-old converted his kick with a Panenka against Socceroos goalkeeper Mat Ryan.

In the aftermath of that victory, Aboutrika, now an analyst for beIN Sports, did his best to pass the baton to the new generation.

Goalscorer Ashour had expressed his joy at being compared to Aboutrika, saying his ambition was to be “as half as good or even a quarter as good as him”.

Later on in the studio, Aboutrika responded by saying: “You are better than [me]. You’ve scored two goals in a World Cup,” and insisting that this was the biggest night in the history of Egyptian football.

Not everyone is so convinced.

“This Egypt team is better than any we have seen in years yet is still remarkably fragile,” opined Karim Zidan, a writer focused on the intersection of sports, power and politics.

Salah, meanwhile, was once again asked who was the greatest Egyptian player of all time and again deferred to Aboutrika, saying “there is absolutely no discussion.”

Salah led Egypt to their first victory in the country’s 92-year tournament history against New Zealand.

Liverpool star Mohamed Salah scored his first goal of the tournament as part of a second-half flurry to deliver Egypt their first-ever World Cup victory, 3-1, over New Zealand in Vancouver.

Both Salah and Mostafa Zico bagged a goal and an assist apiece as Egypt rallied from a 1-0 half-time deficit and took over first place in Group G on Sunday. Trezeguet scored Egypt’s third goal for late insurance.

Salah celebrated his 68th international goal by pumping his fist before he was mobbed by his teammates in the 67th minute to the delight of the red-clad Pharaohs fans in the sellout crowd at BC Place, Vancouver.

When Salah was substituted in the 85th minute, he was treated to a standing ovation.

The first three matches of Group G ended in draws, including Belgium and Iran posting a scoreless tie earlier on Sunday, leaving the group open for the taking. New Zealand (0-1-1, 1 point) thought they were on that path after Finn Surman’s headed goal off a 15th-minute set piece gave them a lead they held for nearly half the match.

Egypt will finish the group stage against Iran on Friday, all but assured of advancing to the knockouts no matter the result. New Zealand, still seeking their own first World Cup win, will take aim at Belgium on the same day in their hopes of advancing.

Mostafa Shoubir made four saves for Egypt, while Max Crocombe recorded four for New Zealand.

New Zealand earned their go-ahead corner kick when Elijah Just had a strong effort on target, and Shoubir sent it out of bounds.

Tim Payne’s ensuing corner found Surman in space. Surman’s jumping header went past a helpless Shoubir to give the All Whites the lead.

Egypt had a promising look in the 35th minute on a free kick from the edge of the box after Callum McCowatt picked up a yellow card for a poor tackle. A teammate laid the ball off for Salah, whose attempt on goal missed to the left.

Egypt had more control and more of the chances in the second half, starting immediately when Salah pressured Crocombe into a save less than 40 seconds in.

But the Pharaohs finally broke through in the 58th minute. Mohamed Hany landed a perfect cross for Zico, whose header near the 6-yard line struck Crocombe’s glove on its way in.

Salah’s turn came nine minutes later. Zico connected with Salah up the right side on a transition play. He dribbled around his man into the box and tapped a pass ahead to Zico, who back-heeled it into a pocket of space for Salah to finish with a left-footed shot to the bottom-left corner.

Trezeguet wrapped up the match in the 82nd minute on another header from a corner kick. Salah sent in a low offering, and Trezeguet was unmarked as his diving header bounded in. It was Trezeguet’s 24th career goal in an international competition and his first at a World Cup.

“In years to come, we will remember that this was one of the achievements in history,” Salah said.

He praised the large Egyptian contingent in the crowd, saying: “It feels like we are playing in Egypt. It’s a great win and great vibe.”

Salah may have been a superstar at Liverpool. He is on an even higher plane in Egypt.

With every touch comes loud cheers from his country’s fans, with huge pressure on his shoulders on every appearance.

Sunday’s goal was his 68th for his country in 118 appearances, leaving him just one shy of manager Hassan’s all-time goal scoring record, and some will say it’s his most important yet as Egypt finally ended a 92-year wait for a World Cup win.

No player has been involved in more shots during a game at this World Cup than Salah was against New Zealand – having five shots himself and creating five more for others.

Former Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou, told ITV: “If there was any doubt about Mo’s impact on this team, you can still see it.

“It will give them enormous belief. They had to deal with adversity and their big player stood up and that will give them big confidence. You need your big players to perform to progress.”

Former Jamaica winger Jobi McAnuff added: “Just when he was needed, Mo Salah stood up for his country.”

Salah has played for the senior national team for 14 years and his importance to Egypt is such that high-ranking government officials have been known to get involved when he has been injured.

“I even had calls from Egypt’s Minister of Health,” recalls Dr Mohamed Aboud, the national team’s medic, about the time Salah sustained a serious shoulder injury in Liverpool’s defeat by Real Madrid in the 2018 Champions League final, leading to speculation he could miss the World Cup in Russia a few weeks later.

But, despite helping Liverpool to the Premier League title in 2019-20 and 2024-25, the player has yet to lift a trophy for his country.

The generation before Salah won three Africa Cup of Nations titles in a row between 2006 and 2010. Since then, there have been two defeats in finals, against Cameroon in 2017 and Senegal in the 2021 edition, which took place in early 2022.

This World Cup win at least banishes one of Egypt’s ghosts.

Mohamed Salah’s latest unprompted public outburst will ratchet up the pressure on struggling Liverpool head coach Arne Slot by several notches.

Salah first laid bare his frustrations with Slot and Liverpool after the 3-3 draw at Leeds United in December, claiming he had been “thrown under the bus” after being dropped following the Premier League champions’ poor start to the season.

This time the Egyptian, who is scheduled to play his final game for Liverpool against Brentford at Anfield on the closing weekend of the season, took to social media after Friday’s 4-2 loss at Aston Villa to launch a thinly-veiled attack on their style under Slot and the failures this season.

Slot has been losing credit fast since winning the Premier League in his first season after succeeding Jurgen Klopp.

The contrast was sharp between Unai Emery’s vibrant Aston Villa – who confirmed Champions League football next season with victory at Villa Park and who are in the Europa League Final – and porous, weak Liverpool.

And then came the latest twist in this troubled, turbulent Liverpool season.

This sort of pronouncement could justifiably be seen as Salah repaying his head coach by throwing Slot under the bus, the breakdown of their relationship providing a fractious backdrop to a season in which Liverpool‘s title defence has disintegrated.

If Salah’s attack clearly does not help Slot, who has lost the faith of many Liverpool fans as the Anfield atmosphere becomes increasingly toxic, then his analysis of “us crumbling to yet another defeat this season” hardly reflects well on his own team-mates either.

The sub-plot to Salah’s post is that a large number of those same Liverpool supporters see Xabi Alonso as Slot’s natural successor.

But the former Real Madrid manager now looks destined for Chelsea, who hope to announce the Spaniard as their new permanent head coach in the coming days.

Alonso has long been touted as a future Liverpool manager, having won the Champions League as a player and then impressed hugely during his time as Bayer Leverkusen boss.

Some hoped he would replace Klopp two years ago, but he instead opted to remain with Leverkusen and Slot came in instead.

It would seem again the timing just will not quite marry up for those dreaming of a fairytale return to Anfield.

It has not been a straightforward two seasons in English football for the forward.

He joined the East Yorkshire club from Portuguese outfit Farense in August 2024 and enjoyed a decent start only for an anterior cruciate ligament injury at Oxford in November to end his season.

By the time he returned to action last August the club had sacked both Tim Walter and his replacement Ruben Selles and brought in Jakirovic.

Understandably after such a serious injury it took him time to get back up to speed and two hamstring injuries have kept him out for four months of this campaign.

He started Friday’s goalless first leg and hit the post after just two minutes but Jakirovic said he began Monday’s game on the bench as he had not been able to train since.

“He was very tired and had fatigue in both his hamstrings and Achilles so the plan was to give him the second half,” Jakirovic told BBC Radio Humberside.

“It was a great substitution and a great decision. Now I am very smart, if they do nothing I am stupid. It’s always like this.

“This group of players is unbelievable with the chemistry between them.”

Skipper Lewie Coyle was also full of praise for the match-winner and the club’s medical staff.

“He’s incredible. We are so lucky that we’ve got so many players that can come on and impact the game,” he said.

“We all know what that boy’s about. I’m so pleased for him.

“He’s had an incredibly tough injury but it says a lot about him and the recovery team that he’s come back as he has.”