Source : the age
San Francisco: Egypt expect former Liverpool star Mohamed Salah will overcome a knee injury and play the Socceroos in their World Cup knockout clash after the Pharaohs’ dramatic 1-1 draw with Iran saw the African nation finish second in their group.
Australia will play Egypt in the Round of 32 clash at 4am on July 4 (AEST), in Dallas, in what will be the first time the two countries have faced off at a World Cup and the first time they met since a friendly in 2010.
Attention in the lead-up will be on Salah’s fitness, after the former Premier League star was surprisingly taken off in the 57th minute against Iran and had his left leg heavily strapped. Salah also appeared visibly frustrated as he was taken off.
Egypt coach Hossam Hassan said Salah asked to be substituted and he “felt something” but the 34-year-old was being assessed by the team’s medical staff and would undergo another examination when Egypt returned to the team hotel.
“I talked to Salah and he said he’s going to be OK and it’s not a big injury,” Hassan said. “We still have time to talk to the medical staff. I think he will be back, and when I spoke to Salah he assured me he’s going to be OK.”
The four-time Premier League golden boot, who played 315 times for Liverpool before announcing his departure from the club this year, scored his 68th international goal in the Pharaohs’ first World Cup win, a 3-1 victory against New Zealand. The 34-year-old has assisted on two other goals in the tournament.
Hassan said regardless of Salah’s availability, he was confident of his squad’s depth after Egypt secured second spot in Group G with five points, behind leaders Belgium on goal difference.
“I have warriors. I have Egyptian players who are worthy of the trust placed in them,” Hassan said.
“I don’t worry about missing players. I have complete confidence in everyone in this squad. If I worried every time we had an injury, then I wouldn’t be fit to coach the Egypt national team.”
Hassan hailed Egypt’s progress to the knockout stage for the first time as a proud achievement for the country, saying his side would now focus on preparing for the next round.
“We’ll prepare ourselves, work hard and do everything we can for what’s coming next,” he said.
Egypt’s goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir said Egypt’s progression to the knockout stages was “something unbelievable”.
“I think it’s history,” Shobeir said. “We will celebrate tonight and then starting from tomorrow we are going to start watching Australia.”
Australia has not played Egypt since 2010, when the Socceroos lost 3-0 in a friendly in Cairo. The two teams’ only other meeting was in 1987, when Australia won 4-3 on penalties after a scoreless draw in a President’s Cup match, a now defunct tournament formerly hosted by the Korea Football Association.
It was a dramatic finish to Group G – with the Socceroos’ next opponent changing eight times through the 90 minutes of the two final Group G matches. It appeared at one stage Australia was set to play Iran in the first meeting of the two sides since the Socceroos’ heartbreak at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in a World Cup qualifier in 1997.
Iran’s Mehdi Taremi – who had a penalty saved in the first half – hit the crossbar with a late header before Shoja Khalilzadeh thought he had scored a dramatic 93rd-minute winner, which would have put them in second place, but it was ruled out for offside.
Instead, Iran are third on three points and must wait for confirmation that they will go through as one of the eight best third-placed teams. The side, who have had to contend with restrictions on their travel throughout the tournament, drew all three of their group games.
“Over these three matches, we did not get the reward for our efforts,” Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei was reported as saying in Iranian state media. “Footballing justice was not on our side.”
Iran versus Egypt was also promoted as a “Pride Match” in Seattle, one which neither side wanted any part of, and while some rainbow flags could be seen inside the stadium, the game passed without incident off the pitch.
In the other match, Belgium jumped from third spot in the group to first as they defeated New Zealand 5-1. All Whites coach Darren Bazeley said the World Cup experience would be valuable for his team, who finished bottom of Group G.
New Zealand led against Iran before being pegged back in a 2-2 draw, and they opened the scoring against Egypt before slumping to a 3-1 defeat.
“I think when you saw the draw and we knew we were playing these [Belgium] last, you probably expected them to already be on six points and that maybe could work in our favour,” Bazeley told a media conference. “We needed to pick up our points in the first two games and we gave ourselves the opportunity to do that, and we didn’t take it.
“We tried to get back in the game. We weren’t going to just leave this World Cup defending a 2-0 loss, we wanted to try and score, to try and get back in the game, but unfortunately, we got punished a few times.”
New Zealand did manage to pull a goal back when Elijah Just netted his third of the tournament, but Belgium went on to score twice more in the closing stages to complete the rout.
with AP, Reuters
Nick Ralston is the deputy editor and investigations editor for The Sydney Morning Herald. He has previously spent time as news editor, justice editor and world editor.Connect via X or email.
