It was fitting that it was Mo Salah who scored to put Egypt ahead in their World Cup match against New Zealand a little over a week ago. The Pharaohs, for all their achievements in Africa, had never won a World Cup match. Fighting back from 1-0 down to the All Whites, Salah helped engineer a long-awaited victory, at the same time moving to within one of Egypt’s record goalscorer Hossam Hassan, also the team’s coach at this tournament.
“In years to come, we will remember that this was one of the achievements in history,” Salah said after the match, which finished 3-1 and all but secured the nation’s progression to the last 32.
