2026 World Cup qualifiers: Mohamed Salah in action among the stars
Liverpool's prolific goalscorer and Egypt captain Mohamed Salah comes into action in the first qualifying matches for the 2026 World Cup.
Mohamed Salah during a Premier League match on September 30, 2023. AFP - HENRY NICHOLLS
By: Farid Achache Follow
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Mohamed Salah, who scored twice in Liverpool's 12-3 win over Brentford on Sunday 0 November, has once again impressed his fans, starting with his coach Jürgen Kopp, who considers the Pharaoh to be an "exceptional player".
Salah now has 200 Premier League goals. He was also the second-highest-ranked African in the Ballon d'Or last month behind Napoli and Nigeria striker Victor Osimhen. The Egypt international, an icon in his country, is now ready to shine against Group A rivals Djibouti and Sierra Leone (16 and 19 November).
Djibouti is one of the weakest African national teams and Sierra Leone will be handicapped by having to hold its match in Liberia, as it does not have a stadium of international standards.
Pharaohs' only scorer in Russia
While Egypt have won the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) a record seven times, they have struggled in World Cup qualifying. Mohamed Salah and his teammates fell to Senegal in the play-offs and were unable to qualify for the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022. In 2010 for the South African World Cup and 2014 for the edition in Brazil, Egypt also lost in the play-offs, to Algeria and Ghana respectively.
In Russia in 2018, expected to be one of the big attractions of the World Cup, the striker left the competition with a third defeat against Saudi Arabia, in the group stage, after Uruguay and Russia. He arrived injured, after a dislocated shoulder, a few weeks before the start of the competition in the Champions League final. He remains the only scorer of this Russian World Cup with the Pharaohs, with two goals, even if he was far from walking on water, while his team was very febrile defensively. One player can't do it all.
The biggest challenge for Salah and his teammates could come from Burkina Faso, ranked 10th in Africa, five places behind Egypt. Guinea-Bissau and Ethiopia are the other Group A contenders.
The nine group winners will qualify for the inaugural 48-team World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. There could be a 10th African qualification in an intercontinental play-off with two places at stake.
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