World Cup 2026: Mohamed Salah’s World Cup nightmare is over as he fires Egypt to history

Salah could be a superstar at Liverpool. In Egypt it is even higher.

Every touch brings loud cheers from his country’s fans and a lot of pressure is placed on his shoulders in every match.

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

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

“That will give them tremendous belief. They’ve had to deal with adversity and their big players have stepped up and that will give them huge confidence. You need your big players to perform to move forward.”

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

Salah has been playing in the National Team for 14 years and is so important for Egypt that senior government officials are known to intervene when he is injured.

The national team’s doctor, Dr. Mohamed Aboud recalls that Salah suffered a serious shoulder injury during Liverpool’s defeat to Real Madrid in the 2018 Champions League final, leading to speculation that he might miss the World Cup in Russia a few weeks later: “I even got a call from the Egyptian Minister of Health.”

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

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

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