Egypt pin hopes of salvation on Salah’s one-man rescue act
Having been declared fit, can the Liverpool striker single-handedly burst Russia’s bubble?
In salving the pain of a crushing night in Kiev, where defeat in the Champions League final was compounded by a tangle with Sergio Ramos at his most malevolent, Mohamed Salah has drawn solace from an unlikely source.
Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of the rebel Chechen Republic, is not a man renowned for kindly gestures – he is, after all, accused by Human Rights Watch of enabling forced disappearances and a campaign of torture – but he clearly reserves a soft spot for his treasured guest from Egypt.
Ever since Salah and his team-mates set up their World Cup camp in Grozny, capital of Chechnya, Kadyrov has made it his mission to bask in the reflected glamour. First, Salah was paraded around the local stadium, named in honour of Kadyrov’s assassinated father, after being informed by the warlord’s henchmen that there was an important person to meet him in the lobby.
Then, on the occasion of his 26th birthday last week, he was presented by his hosts with a 220lb birthday cake decorated with a golden boot. Nonplussed at such lavishness, he could only smile as the glitter fell from the ceiling.
It is, of course, pure propaganda. Kadyrov has turned to sportsmen before to acquire a fig leaf of legitimacy, posing for selfies alongside Diego Maradona and Floyd Mayweather, and Salah finds himself just the latest naive victim. But it is testament to his stature that he has become the pawn in such a transparent political game.
The state of Salah’s shoulder has, in the three weeks since it was injured by the dastardly Ramos, become a national obsession in Egypt. There was even a moment of alarm on the touchline in Ekaterinburg last week, when he was tapped on the shoulder by an overzealous mascot. Exasperated, he pointed to it and kept walking.
But tonight, after watching crestfallen from the bench as Egypt succumbed to an opening defeat to Uruguay, he is ready to take the risk against Russia. Official confirmation came when Ramy Abbas Issa, his agent, tweeted for the benefit of an anxious country: “Mohamed is fit.”
His return has arrived at a critical moment. Egypt’s players, who have received special dispensation from the Grand Mufti of Cairo to forgo fasting for Ramadan, must beat the hosts this evening to stand any hope of advancing. While Russia remain euphoric after a 5-0 win over Saudi Arabia, the elusive Salah is certain to target the slightest weakness in defence, where centre-backs Yuri Zhirkov and Sergei Ignashevich have a combined age of 72.
“He is an essential part of our team,” Hector Cuper, the Egypt coach, said last night, with a relieved grin. “Can he be stopped? That’s up to them.”
Stanislav Cherchesov, his opposite number, was at least making the right noises about containing Salah, who has matched his wondrous strike-rate at Liverpool with 33 goals in 57 games for Egypt. “We realise that Salah is our strongest opponent,” he said. “But we aren’t playing against one player, we have to take them all into consideration. We understand how to do this. Soon you will see that.”
Despite the stunning verve of their first victory, Russia recognise
The state of his shoulder since the Champions League final has become a national obsession
only too clearly their own vulnerabilities. They do not lie below Cape Verde in the Fifa rankings for nothing, and dare not slip back into that trough with Vladimir Putin now taking such a keen interest. As goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev put it: “I believe we should pay more attention to ourselves. We have our own tasks.”
For all the talent that Aleksandr Golovin displayed at the Luzhniki last week, the Russians lack any figure who can remotely stand comparison with Salah on his best day.
Having swept every English honour available to him over the past 12 months, Salah needs to make an impact at this tournament to be in the Ballon d’or reckoning. There could be no better way, surely, for him to consign Kiev to the ash heap of history.