Egypt superstar Mohamed Salah is set to push through a hamstring strain and play against the Socceroos in their do-or-die World Cup round-of-32 clash.
But the Egypt captain and former Liverpool talisman could be limited to an impact substitute role off the bench, says coach Hossam Hassan.
Salah, comfortably the biggest name in Australia’s blockbuster clash on Friday (Saturday AEST) at Dallas Stadium, was forced out of Egypt’s final group match against Iran with a left hamstring strain.
The brilliant attacker, 34, trained with his teammates in the portion of Egypt’s light training session that was open to media on Thursday.
‘We learned that he suffered a hamstring strain during the second half of the match against Iran and asked to be substituted,’ Hassan said via an interpreter.
‘Our very distinguished medical department took care of that, and we tried to introduce him to partial team training as of yesterday only.
Mohamed Salah is racing the clock to be fit for Egypt’s World Cup knockout clash with Australia
Egypt coach Hossam Hassan said he would not risk Salah unless the superstar was fully ready
Australia will face Egypt in Dallas with a place in the World Cup round of 16 on the line
Hassan later added: ‘Salah joined us after his physiotherapy. We continued the sessions with him together with our medical department.
‘He returned to partial team training since yesterday. And based on my choices, I am planning to have him in the match, whether in the starting lineup or at a later stage’
It was always hard to see Egypt resting Salah altogether, given the Socceroos match is the biggest in the country’s history – and no doubt coach Tony Popovic will have planned for the brilliant attacker to play.
Where and when the right-sided attacker lines up could also determine whether Popovic again deploys dynamic wing-back Jordan Bos on the right or restores him to the left with an eye on also minding Salah.
It is Egypt’s first-ever knockout appearance and the Pharaohs, like Australia, want their maiden win on that stage.
Salah is currently without a club after leaving Liverpool and will surely be desperate to play his part – even if that means risking further injury.
For many of the Socceroos, Salah is the most high-profile player they will have faced in their careers.
The magical Salah scored 257 goals and notched 120 assists for Liverpool in a trophy-laden stint across 442 appearances.
That included winning the Premier League in 2019-20 and 2024-25 and the Champions League in 2018-19.
Hassan was peppered with questions about Australia’s height and physicality but wasn’t fazed.
‘We will be fine,’ he said with a smile.
‘We are not playing rugby here, we are playing football.’
