Salah Starts for Egypt in World Cup Clash Against Australia

Mohamed Salah will lead Egypt out in Texas on Friday night, hamstring scare or not.

Seven days after limping off in a 1-1 draw with Iran, the 34-year-old captain has been named in the starting XI for the last-32 World Cup clash with Australia at the home of the Dallas Cowboys. What looked like a worrying “niggle” has not kept Egypt’s talisman on the sidelines when it matters most.

On Thursday, coach Hossam Hassan admitted he was “not sure” if Salah would be fit to start. That uncertainty has given way to a clear decision: if Egypt are going to chase history, they are going to do it with their best player on the pitch from the first whistle.

Salah arrives at this knockout tie with one goal and two assists in the tournament in North America, a reminder that even when he is not fully free-running, he still bends games to his will. His record for his country remains strikingly simple: he averages a goal every other game in an Egypt shirt. Those are the numbers you trust when the margin for error disappears.

He will not carry the attacking burden alone. Manchester City forward Omar Marmoush also starts, giving Egypt a sharp, mobile partner for their captain and a second threat for Australia’s back line to worry about. If Salah draws the double-marking he usually does, Marmoush is well placed to exploit the gaps.

The stakes are enormous for both sides. Egypt have never won a World Cup knockout match. Australia have never done it either. One of them walks into new territory; the other is left staring at another missed chance.

The reward is brutal and beautiful in equal measure. Waiting in the last 16 will be either Lionel Messi’s reigning champions Argentina or World Cup debutants Cape Verde. A meeting with the holders would be a global spectacle. A tie against Cape Verde would carry its own intrigue, a fresh storyline in a tournament already full of them.

For now, all eyes are on Texas and on the number 10 in red. Salah is in. The gamble is clear. The question is whether Egypt’s greatest modern player can drag his country to a place it has never been before.