Egypt, Saudi Arabia take spat to the pitch

VOLGOGRAD, RUSSIA » In theory, it’s an inconsequential match between two teams already eliminated from the World Cup.

In reality, Monday’s clash between Egypt and Saudi Arabia is about pride, politics and maybe some score settling too.

Fans in the two nations are locked in a public quarrel pitting Saudi Arabia’s top sports official — a maverick and a confidante of the kingdom’s powerful crown prince — against Egypt’s biggest soccer club over the fate of millions he poured into the club’s coffers during his brief tenure as the club’s honorary chairman.

Inappropriate comments by the official, Turki Alsheikh, about Egypt’s Mohamed Salah, fueled the spat, dragging millions of the Liverpool striker’s fans into it and unleashing a flood of abuse and hate speech on social media against him and Saudi Arabia, a close ally of Egypt and one of its chief economic backers.

“May God heal you (Salah) after the World Cup,” Alsheikh told reporters in Moscow on the eve of Saudi Arabia’s 5-0 loss to host Russia in the tournament’s opening match. Salah was injured in last month’s Champions League final. He did not play in Egypt’s 1-0 loss to Uruguay, but started against Russia June 19, scoring from the penalty spot in a 3-1 loss.

In March, Alsheikh tweeted this about Salah; “He must be sidelined before the World Cup,” hoping the 26-year-old Egyptian star would not play against the Saudis Monday.

So outraged were Egyptian fans that some suggested Alsheikh may have paid Sergio Ramos, the Real Madrid defender who took down Salah in the May 26 Champions League final. No foul was called.

The angry allegation reflects the depth of resentment Egyptians feel toward the Saudi official and their affection for Salah.

Alsheikh has not endeared himself to Morocco’s soccer fans either. His country voted this month to support the eventually successful North American bid to organize the 2026 World Cup over Morocco’s bid. The unexpected move drove Moroccan fans to join their Egyptian peers in the spat with the Saudis.

Alsheikh was also involved in testy Twitter exchanges with the president of European soccer over Qatar-owned sports broadcasting rights. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other nations started a blockade against Qatar last year, accusing the tiny but super rich Gulf nation of supporting opposition Islamist groups and working to destabilize the region. Qatar has rejected the accusations, calling the blockade a politically motivated attempt to undermine its sovereignty.

Alsheikh suggested Thursday that UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin was a man “of many faces,” whom he had refused to meet. Ceferin’s response was that he had never heard of Alsheikh and would not meet with him.

The Saudi-Egyptian quarrel has clear political undertones and the potential to spill over into the pitch when the two meet in Volgograd in their final World Cup match. That potential is all the more ominous because both are keen to make an impression on soccer’s highest stage before they go home.