Back at the beginning of May, Mo Salah had the world at his feet. He was breaking goal records in the Premier League, leading his Liverpool team to the Champions League Final and had the World Cup to look forward to. One controversial challenge from Real Madrid’s Ramos turned his dreams into nightmares. He left the pitch in tears with a shoulder injury that would also hamper his World Cup.
Salah left out of the opening game for Egypt
He did not make an appearance against Uruguay in Egypt’s opening game and looked a shadow of his former self in the other games against Russia and Saudi Arabia, despite scoring in each game. Then rumours emerged that Salah could potentially retire from the national team, due to his belief that he had been used for political gain after Chechnya leader Ramzan Kadyrov made him an honorary citizen of the Chechen Republic.
Original team sheet did not include Salah
Further intrigue followed, as the original team announced by Egypt to face Saudi Arabia did not feature Salah. Then another version of their team sheet was released, this time including the Liverpool star. The Egypt FA was quick to respond to the speculation to say that it was human error that had caused the mix-up.
They also were adamant that Salah had not made a decision to retire from international football, so where those rumours stemmed from nobody knows. One thing is for sure – the end of Salah’s season was so much less than he deserved after his magnificent performances in the Premier League and the Champions League. Hopefully, he can now concentrate on getting fully fit for the season and taking his disappointment out on the defenders that he tormented last season.
