JAKARTA - Mohamed Salah seems to be appearing for Egypt in the 32-team round of 16 match against Australia on Saturday, July 4, 2026, early morning WIB, after recovering from a hamstring injury.
However, coach Hossam Hassan did not confirm whether the star striker would play as a starter.
The 34-year-old suffered the injury in the 57th minute of Egypt's 1-1 draw with Iran last week which took them through to the knockout stages, with the severity of the injury reiterated when he asked to be replaced with the game still goalless.
The Liverpool legend was then diagnosed with a hamstring injury by Egyptian medical staff and embarked on what the Egyptian Football Association described as an intensive rehabilitation program to ensure his availability for Egypt's match against the Socceroos at the AT&T Stadium.
Salah rejoined Egypt's training on Wednesday, July 1, 2026, local time. He also seemed relatively undisturbed during the 15 minutes allowed for the media to observe the team's last training session on Thursday, July 2, 2026.
Hours later, Hassan confirmed in a pre-match press conference that his star player would be available.
"When playing against Iran, we found out that he had a hamstring injury in the second half of the match and asked to be replaced."
"Our very prominent medical department is dealing with it. We are trying to include it in the team's training partially starting yesterday."
"However, Salah is a passionate player. He is very eager to make his own contribution with his teammates tomorrow."
"Of course, I won't take any risks unless I'm 100 percent sure that he's fit and ready to play tomorrow. We hope he plays tomorrow even though we're not sure if he'll be in the starting lineup or not," said the coach.
Apart from that, Salah's availability for the match against the Socceroos will give Egypt a significant boost.
Australia coach Tony Popovich is well aware of the danger posed by the former Liverpool player.
"Yes, we are preparing for Mohamed Salah to play. We have seen when he is not on the field. So, we are preparing for both scenarios and see you tomorrow," said Popovich.
Despite being one of Africa's main powers, Egypt are looking for their first World Cup knockout victory, just weeks after recording their first win in any form when they came from behind to beat New Zealand 3-1.
Salah scored one of Egypt's goals in the victory over New Zealand.
Meanwhile, left-back Ahmed Fatouh is confirmed to be absent in the match against Australia due to a hamstring injury, while midfielder Mohanad Lasheen is suspended.
Manchester City striker Omar Marmoush is expected to start, but has not yet shown his best form at the 2026 World Cup and was forced off the bench in the draw against Iran.
Another thing that caught the Egyptian media's attention ahead of the match was how Hassan planned to overcome the huge physical size of his opponent, with the Socceroos' backline consisting of Alessandro Circati, Harry Souttar, and Lucas Herrington, as well as goalkeeper Patrick Beach.
All of those players are at least 190 cm (6 feet 3 inches) tall. That advantage was very effective in keeping the goal clean against Turkey and Paraguay in the group stage.
"We'll be fine. We don't play rugby here, we play football," the Egyptian coach said of his opponent's posture advantage.
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