Egypt vs Uruguay: 5 Talking Points, World Cup 2018

#4 Salah unfit to play any part

Salah was forced to sit on the bench for the whole 90 minutes

It was said Mohamed Salah would be able to come off the bench for Egypt’s opening fixture against Uruguay, but the Liverpool winger did not play a single minute of the game.

Salah has had a magnificent season, scoring 43 goals in all competitions, with 32 of those coming in the Premier League, while setting up 14 goals for his team-mates.

However, an injury in the Champions League final to his shoulder put his World Cup in doubt, and if Egypt are unable to gain enough points to progress, we could see him play just two games in the tournament.

Today, his absence was difficult for Egypt to take. Their game plan was to soak up the pressure and hit Uruguay on the counter-attack, which they did, but they were unable to finish any counter attacks with a killer pass or a player to pass to without their star player.

He must not have been fit enough to play, as Egypt were in desperate need of some creativity, but the coach made all three substitutions and refused to bring Salah on.

Hopefully for Egypt, Salah will be fit to play from here on out and play an important part in them progressing out of the group stages, as well as winning their first ever World Cup finals match.

But, could him missing this all-important fixture today prove costly to Egypt’s hopes of making it out of the group stage?