SEATTLE (AP) — Egypt world cup In Monday’s opening game against Belgium, former Liverpool standout Mohamed Salah will play the role of the underdog he has played against for years. Manchester City player Kevin De Bruyne and his talented teammates.
Egypt has never won a World Cup and only led once in seven games. Still, the Pharaohs insist they should be taken seriously in Group G.
Besides Salah, After nine seasons at Liverpool, he is yet to decide where he will play next. Omar Marmouche appears in Egypt’s attack Manchester City. The tandem of Salah and Marmouche caught the attention of Belgian coach Rudi Garcia, who had coached the former while playing for Roma.
“Obviously they have other qualities, they have other players,” Garcia said in French on Sunday. “This is a team that always gets excited. They’re a solid team that has to be respected.”
Egypt coach Hossam Hassan was quietly confident ahead of the match. Egypt’s leading career scorer with 69 international goals, Hassan scored one goal against Algeria in 1990, propelling Egypt to one of their four World Cup appearances.
Coach Hassan said Egypt’s goal is to get through the group stage. Expanded field.
“There is a negative perception because I haven’t played in the World Cup other than four times,” Hassan said in Arabic. “But now I think we have a generation that deserves to be here.”
Still, Hassan’s team will be at a disadvantage for more reasons than having to play at noon local time during a Seattle heat wave. The Belgian side includes players from the “golden generation” such as De Bruyne and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, as well as Winger Jeremy Dok.
“As I said at the beginning, the Belgian national team is a great team, star-studded,” Hassan said. “I respect the Belgian national team. Needless to say, the whole world knows what they are capable of.”
However, Egypt believes they can compete, having defeated Belgium three times in four exhibition matches.
“We want history to repeat itself,” Hassan said.
Belgium faces pressure to avoid a repeat of their performance in Qatar in 2022, when they failed to make it past the group stage. The Belgian finished third at the 2018 Russia Games.
Belgium will need to contain Salah, or at least slow down the four-time Premier League Golden Boot winner. Salah’s final season at Liverpool was a slump, falling short of his standards, with nine goals and three assists in six World Cup qualifying games.
“It goes without saying that Mohamed Salah is important,” Hassan said. “(But) everyone is important.”
Hassan believes Egypt can pull off the upset thanks to the players around Salah.
“We have a lot of talent apart from Salah and beyond Marmouche,” Hassan said. “We have very good players. God willing, people will pay attention to them and they will contribute to their country.”
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