Ghazal hoping for ticket to Russia
Whitecaps midfielder sees superstar Salah leading Egypt to World Cup glory
Aly Ghazal’s return gave Vancouver Whitecaps fans a reason to tune into their game. It seems to be a thing with Egyptian footballers these days.
Ghazal, ever the soccer fan himself, is hoping for an early end to training on Wednesday so he can tune in to watch compatriot Mo Salah and Liverpool take on Roma in the second-leg Champions League semifinal (11:30 a.m., TSN1).
Salah’s season has set the world on fire, with his first-leg showing against Roma — two goals and two assists in a 5-2 victory — further cementing his breakout year as one of the best Premier League debuts of all-time.
With two games to go and sitting on 32 league goals, he’s already set the record for most goals in an EPL debut season, and tied the record for a 38-game season. Another four goals would make him the highest scorer in the last 50 years of Premier League play.
He’s been named player of the year by the Player’s Football Association and the Football Writers’ Association, among the highest accolades a player can receive. He’s neck-andneck with Lionel Messi for the Golden Boot, awarded to Europe’s top scorer, with the Barca star holding a slim one-goal lead after notching a hat trick last weekend.
But it was Salah’s indomitable performance against Roma last week, subbing out after pushing his team to a 5-0 lead and becoming the first African and first Liverpool player to score 10 Champions League goals in a season, that has catapulted him into the realm of global mainstream conscious.
“He shows every game that he’s a top player,” said the 26-year-old Ghazal. “But, especially in that game, he showed that he’s top three in the world at the moment.
“At the moment, he’s the best. I don’t care (what people say). The people talk about Messi and Ronaldo because they’re consistent, every season they have a good year, but if you come to this year, at this moment, he’s the best.”
As Sky Sports’ Adam Bates put it: “Salah is not even close to having a Messi career, but he is having a Messi season. And it’s not just about the numbers. The sight of Salah in full flow is undeniably reminiscent of the great man.”
To go from a player who has never scored more than 20 goals in a season to being a World Cup hero — he scored the lone goal in a 1-0 win over Ghana to send Egypt through to the tournament in Russia this season — and a global icon on par with the two greatest players of our generation is a singular achievement.
Ghazal would love to contribute to even a small part of that story, as the Caps’ defensive midfielder is still holding out hope of being named to Egypt’s preliminary 35-man World Cup roster, which is due out by May 14.
He hasn’t been capped since 2014, but his body of work since joining the Whitecaps certainly warrants
a look. Signing in August 2017, he started seven of nine games after working his way back into shape, before a pre-season injury kept him out of action for all but 16 minutes of the first seven games of the season.
He’s started the past two games — with Friday’s 2-0 home win over Real Salt Lake, the Whitecaps are 4-0-3 when he starts at B.C. Place. He had four interceptions against Real, and is averaging 3.1 interceptions per game, the best number of any MLS player with 10 or more games.
Egypt have drawn into Group A with host Russia, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay in their World Cup first appearance since 1990.
“There’s a lot (of talent). Trézéguet is doing great for the national team. (Mohamed El) Neny, who plays for Arsenal, (Ahmed Hegazi), he’s doing great … I think they’re the best that you can watch,” said Ghazal.
“I feel good (about our chances). The guys are doing well. Our group is a good group — not perfect, not bad, it’s good — so we have an opportunity. I think we can do something great.”
Growing up in Cairo, Ghazal watched stars such as Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira when he was young, but now as an adult, he’s got another one to watch — the one dubbed “The Happiness Maker” in a country in need of positive news as it suffers through economic drought and political uneasiness.
Cue the Liverpool fans: “Mo Salah, Mo Salah, Mo Salah, running down the wing! Salah la la la la, the Egyptian king!”
EXTRA TIME: The Whitecaps have loaned fullback Justin Fiddes, the 17th overall pick in the 2018 MLS SuperDraft, to the club’s USL affiliate, Fresno FC, for the rest of the season, with an option to recall during the next International Transfer Window in July.
“Justin has exhibited potential, and it would benefit him to get some game minutes,” head coach Carl Robinson said in a release. “They have a great staff down in Fresno and we’ll be keeping close tabs on how he progresses.”
WFC Residency products Matthew Baldisimo, Terran Campbell and Noah Verhoeven, as well as fellow SuperDraft selection Cory Brown, currently play for Fresno.