Mohamed Salah goes into the World Cup with Egypt again carrying more than a captain’s armband. The 34-year-old forward arrives after another qualifying campaign in which he played virtually every minute, scored nine goals and set up three more, and he will lead Egypt into their fourth World Cup appearance against Belgium on Monday.
For Egypt, the stakes are plain. They have never won a World Cup match, and the seven previous attempts ended without a victory. Yet this team reached the tournament unbeaten, a run that has made Salah the central figure once more. The 2018 edition showed how far one moment from him can carry the country: his stoppage-time penalty in the World Cup in Russia ended Egypt’s 28-year exile.
He comes in with the weight of a record chase as well. Salah has won every major honour available at Liverpool, but with Egypt he needs two more goals to draw level with Hossam Hassan as the country’s all-time leading scorer. He has done it in 61 fewer matches, a gap that shows both how efficient he has been and how much responsibility still sits on his shoulders.
Hossam Hassan, now on the touchline, has made the same point without dressing it up. He said Egypt have good players but depend on Salah in big moments, and added that the forward scores goals, creates chances and can guide the team to victories. That trust matters because Egypt’s qualifying form and their World Cup record tell different stories. One was unbeaten and convincing. The other still has no win at all.
Orange tried to lighten the mood last week with a series of humorous adverts starring Ahmed Fatouh, Rami Rabia and Hossam Abdelmaguid, but the real burden sits elsewhere. Egypt have won the Africa Cup of Nations seven times, so the nation is used to success on the continent. The World Cup has been the stubborn exception. Monday is another chance to break that pattern, and Salah is still the player most likely to decide whether it happens.
If Egypt finally get that first World Cup victory, it will not just be another result. It will close the gap between what Salah has already done for his country and what he still has left to prove there.
