Egypt bank on Salah’s Liverpool form at World Cup
Egypt coach Hector Cuper is hoping star striker Mohamed Salah can transfer the stellar form he’s shown for Liverpool this season to the national side at the World Cup in Russia.
Salah, the Premier League and African player of the year, became a national hero over the leading role he played in helping Egypt qualify for their first World Cup finals in 28 years.
“We hope that he will exploit the progress he’s made as a striker at Liverpool,” said Cuper on Monday.
On Sunday, Salah set a new single-season Premier League scoring record after notching his 32nd goal of the season for Liverpool, surpassing the old mark of 31 goals he had shared with Alan Shearer, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez.
Egypt has qualified for the finals on two previous occasions, in 1934 and the 1990 FIFA World Cup. In 1934 Egypt became the first African team to play in the World Cup finals. When they qualified again in 1990, they became the team with the longest-ever gap between two FIFA World Cup matches: 56 years and 16 days had passed.
The 2018 qualification marks the third time the North Africans would be at the world’s biggest soccer extravaganza.
Ten players were fielded in all three matches of the 1990 FIFA World Cup, making them record World Cup players for their country. Among them are twin brothers Hossam and Ibrahim Hassan.
Scoring twice at Egypt’s firstever World Cup match, their 2-4 defeat against Hungary, made Abdulrahman Fawzi the only African goal scorer at FIFA World Cup finals for decades, and the most successful Egyptian one to date.