World Cup 2018: Egypt star Mohamed Salah fit to play against Russia

Egypt did without star Mohamed Salah in its first World Cup match, but he has been declared fully fit to play now.

As it happened, Egypt’s first match of the 2018 World Cup, fell on Mohamed Salah’s 26th birthday on Friday. The Egyptians lost to Uruguay 1-0 without Salah, who was cleared to play but was held out for the full 90 minutes as and unused substitute by coach Hector Cuper.

“Mo Salah is an extremely important player for us, nobody can deny that, but you need to have a good team, and we have a good team,” Cuper said after Friday’s contest. “Perhaps if Mo had been on the pitch today the outcome would have been different, but we can’t know that.”

On Saturday, with a few days between matches, the Egyptian Football Association has declared Salah fit to play against host country Russia on Tuesday.

Salah suffered a shoulder injury during the Champions League final last month, which cast his status for the World Cup into doubt. He was a huge factor in Liverpool reaching that game against Real Madrid, scoring 44 times in first season with the team, and he also tallied five goals during qualifying to help Egypt reach its first World Cup since 1990.

With two games to go in group play Egypt needs a good showing against Russia, who beat Saudi Arabia 5-0 in the match that kicked off this World Cup. How much Salah will play is unclear, and it’s unknown if he will start, but his presence on the pitch can only help.

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A lower body injury would be far more of a concern for Salah, and his shoulder will have a few extra days to get right. The debate over whether he should have at least been inserted toward the end of the game against Uruguay will remain though, and ramp up if Egypt does not advance from their group.