Egypt’s captain will contend with a man in whose image he was fashioned. They are different players but cut from the same cloth
In Atlanta, Egyptian king Mohamed Salah will go against the forces of Lionel Messi, the man of whom he is something of a second-level replica. Both Salah and Messi have played primarily on the right wing in their careers. Both played for what were essentially English and Spanish football royalty respectively in their peaks. Both were phenomenal, scored lots of goals and broke record after record for their respective clubs. They even have something of the same stature. And both were perhaps the greatest footballers to ever play for their clubs and countries.
This may also be Salah and Messi’s final World Cup appearances. One of them will go through in Atlanta and the other will sign off. Perhaps Messi, just as he is the bigger and higher profile footballer, also has the higher chance of winning the tournament.
Salah will not expect to win this tournament with Egypt even in his wildest dreams. But he could hope to take his team as far as possible: a quarter-final appearance will be the greatest ever achievement of an Egyptian side on the global stage.
Egypt will equally be eyeing the chinks in Argentina’s armour that appeared when they faced Cape Verde in the last round, needing an extra time header from Sergio Romero to seal a narrow 3-2 victory over the island nation. Argentina are favourites, but do not rule out an Egyptian upset.
Predicted lineup:
Argentina (4-4-2): Emiliano Martinez; Nahuel Molina, Cristian Romero, Lisandro Martinez, Facundo Medina; Rodrigo De Paul, Alexis Mac Allister, Enzo Fernandez, Thiago Almada; Lautaro Martinez, Lionel Messi.
Egypt (4-2-3-1): Mostafa Shobeir; Mohamed Hany, Yasser Ibrahim, Ramy Rabia, Karim Hafez; Hamdi Fathy, Marawan Attia; Emam Ashour, Mohamed Salah, Zico; Omar Marmoush
