Дэлхийн аваргын хасагдах шатны хүрээнд Аргентин болон Египетийн шигшээ багууд Атланта хотноо ширүүн өрсөлдөж, эцсийн мөчид Аргентин ялалт байгууллаа.
Тоглолтын үндсэн цаг дуусахаас 11 минутын өмнө 2:0-ээр хожигдож явсан Аргентин Лионель Мессигийн гоолоор тооны харьцааг тэнцүүлж, улмаар хожил байгуулснаар шөвгийн наймд шалгарлаа. Месси эхний хагаст торгуулийн цохилт алдсан ч багийнхаа сэтгэл зүйг өндөрт өргөж чадсан бол Египетийн ахлагч Мохамед Салах тоглолтын турш өндөр ур чадвар, манлайлал үзүүлж, багийнхаа түүхэн амжилтыг бүтээхэд гол үүрэг гүйцэтгэв.
Египет улс анх удаагаа Дэлхийн аваргын хэсгээс гарч, хасагдах шатанд шалгарсан нь Салахын туршлага, тоглогчдын хичээл зүтгэлтэй салшгүй холбоотой байв. Тоглолтын явцад Египетийн нэг гоолыг VAR-аар хүчингүй болгосон нь тооны харьцааг өөрчлөх том боломжийг үгүй хийсэн юм. Мөн тоглолтын төгсгөлд Салахыг торгуулийн талбайд унагасан үйлдэл торгуулийн цохилт болоогүй нь тоглолтын хувь заяаг шийдэхэд нөлөөлсөн байна.
Аргентины дасгалжуулагч Лионель Скалони хөлбөмбөг зөвхөн тактикаас хамаарахгүй болохыг онцлон тэмдэглэв. Хоёр баг хоёул 4-4-2 хувилбараар тоглож, Месси болон Салах нарт чөлөөтэй тоглох орон зайг гаргаж өгсөн нь хоёр од тоглогчийн ур чадварыг бүрэн нээх боломжийг бүрдүүлжээ. Салахын хувьд Ливерпүүлээс явсны дараах ирээдүй нь тодорхойгүй байгаа ч тэрээр олон улсын тэмцээнүүдэд өөрийн түвшинг харуулсаар байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүй эх сурвалжийг харах
Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
In the end, just as everyone else in the stadium was losing their heads amid a scene of unhinged magnificence, Mohamed Salah and Lionel Messi stood apart from it all, shaking theirs, yards from one another.
This had not been one of those occasions when these two great players spent their time, as they can these days, scanning the terrain and waiting for an opportunity to jolt into life, sometimes making it seem like their gentle walk across a green has been interrupted by the breakout of a football match.
For Argentina and Egypt all hands, instead, were firmly pressed to the pump. Salah’s abundance of desire, considering fitness concerns, underpinned an Egyptian performance that threatened to end with one of the greatest shocks in World Cup knockout history. Messi’s refusal to let that happen ultimately explains why Argentina instead, somehow, went through.
Messi missed a first-half penalty but summoned the spirit to score Argentina’s equaliser after being 2-0 down with 11 minutes of normal time remaining. Considering he fluffed another spot-kick against Austria, he now has only eight goals but he still stands alone as this competition’s leading scorer. Salah, meanwhile, reminded against Argentina, as he has done over the last month, that he can be a force for good after a bad time at Liverpool last season.
Messi and Salah played key parts in an epic encounter (ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP via Getty Images)
His experience has been crucial in the journey of Egypt as a country that had never won a match at the World Cup to one that was able to navigate its way through the groups and a knockout round for the first time in its history to the brink of the quarter-finals.
These are all significant achievements. If they were easy to deliver, 39-year-olds before Messi would have scored hat-tricks at this tournament and Egypt would not have waited 92 years to celebrate a victory of any kind at the World Cup.
Salah, of course, scored the decisive goal that tilted Egypt into a lead in that match against New Zealand. He would then hold his nerve to execute a ‘Panenka’ penalty in the round-of-32 shoot-out against Australia.
Salah later acknowledged he was taking a huge risk because it might have been the last touch of his World Cup career, but he decided to try it because he thought it would give his team-mates more confidence.
Salah kept his cool and showed his class with his penalty against Australia (Thomas COEX / AFP via Getty Images)
Some have interpreted the comment as Salah’s way of telling everyone that his international career will be over soon. Yet he knows he will be 37 (going on 38) when the next World Cup starts, and he knows there is no guarantee Egypt will qualify.
Perhaps clarity will follow but he also knows that after 2030, there is the prospect of his 40s and the host being Saudi Arabia, a state he might ultimately experience sooner rather than later because of offers from its clubs following his release from Liverpool.
A date with Messi in Atlanta acted as a segue to a few useful reminders of where Salah is roughly treading as a globally famous sportsperson at the moment. For example, he turned 34 last month on the day Egypt opened their campaign with a draw against Belgium — the same age as Messi when he left Barcelona.
In fairness, Barcelona were not as keen to move on from Messi as Liverpool were with Salah (whereas Messi had scored 38 times for Barcelona in his final season, Salah managed just 12 for Liverpool), but they still decided to cut loose, with age arguments and wage costs featuring highly amongst the club’s considerations.
Cristiano Ronaldo, meanwhile, was 33 when he found out Real Madrid were prepared to move him on. If Salah’s elite mindset positions him anywhere near the same realm as these legendary figures, he is simply following what they have already sort of done.
Ronaldo after Portugal were knocked out by Spain (Ryan Pierse – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
Watching Messi over the last month has been a joy. Salah has not performed with the same free spirit, but his leadership qualities have been immense. Ronaldo has inspired very different emotions because, ultimately, whatever his efforts, even at the age of 41, they have not been enough to take his country somewhere they have not been before.
It seems fairly obvious, however, that the status of each footballer separates them from the squad they belong to, even when their team-mates line up to comment upon how humble they are. Lionel Scaloni later concluded that “football is this, it is not just about tactics and strategies,” and he is absolutely right, yet he and Hossam Hassan, whose reflections about the forces at play around this epic were rather less favourable, should be credited with realising what really needs to happen to get the best out of icons like Messi and Salah, both of whom have been assigned attacking partners in what effectively makes 4-4-2 formations for Argentina and Egypt.
Whereas Messi and Salah float behind the forward line and have had more space to operate in, with Portugal Ronaldo has been the entire focus of it and better defences have easily had the measure of him.
Even with the varying levels of success, each of the strategies reminds us that certain allowances need to be made when accommodating such heroes. It explains why it would be a surprise if Salah’s next club was a major one in Europe, a continent where the best midfields are usually packed, the most popular coaches want running power, and there tends to be less room for players who are anything but outstanding at pressing.
Before he renewed his Liverpool contract in 2025, Salah’s representative Ramy Abbas was interested in exploring options in Major League Soccer. It remains to be seen whether what has happened in the United States since the start of June has been enough to release the sort of money that is only available for special projects in Saudi Arabia. The country is not spending what it was in 2023 on footballers, but the interest in Salah that began with a huge offer to take him away from Liverpool that summer has not gone away.
Maybe the best chance of Europe seeing him perform again at somewhere near the highest level is at an international tournament. With Egypt, he potentially has two more shots at the Africa Cup of Nations before the next World Cup, with editions expected to be held next summer and then again at some point in 2028. It would be unusual for Salah to decide to pull away from each of those challenges when they are so close, especially when this version of Egypt surely has a chance of winning the competition for the first time since Salah emerged as a professional footballer.
For some club somehwere, he will cost a lot but when you see him perform as he did against Argentina, you start to remember why he might be worth it. VAR intervened on what would have been another Egyptian goal when the score was just 1-0, denying him an assist following a delicious pass. Then there was the incident just before Argentina’s winner when Salah appeared to be tripped inside the opponent’s box. Had a penalty been given, well, there was only going to be one taker, and judging by Salah’s record, a very good chance of there being only one outcome. He had, after all, already reminded everyone of who he is and what he can be.
