Egyptian star after World Cup win: ‘Today was one of the best days of my life’
Mohamed Salah failed to become Egypt’s all-time leading scorer Friday at AT&T Stadium, but he still enjoyed a breakthrough on the World Cup stage.
Egypt won a World Cup knockout stage match for the first time, defeating Australia 4-2 in a penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw in regulation to advance to the round of 16. Salah remains one goal away from tying Hossam Hassan for the country’s all-time goal lead.
A Salah free kick helped Egypt score its lone goal, as he dropped off the pass to Emam Ashour, who fired a rocket at the goal. That shot was deflected, but Karim Hafez found Ashour after a scramble in the box for a beautiful header to take the lead.
Salah had come off in the 57th minute with a hamstring injury against Iran in the last group stage game. There were questions about how ready he would be able to go, and he looked limited in the first half with no shots.
However, Salah set up two great chances for Egypt in the final moments of regulation. The first was a beautiful crosser to Ramy Rabia, who headed the ball but was stopped on a superb save from Australia’s Patrick Beach. The second came after Salah found Haissem Hassan with a chance to take the lead, but the shot was blocked by Harry Souttar.
Salah got his chance for a goal in extra time on the right side of the pitch and fired a strong shot, however it sailed over the crossbar.
After starting slow, Salah came on near the end of regulation and extra time, helping set up multiple opportunities for Egypt before the game headed to penalty kicks.
Salah went third and easily made his shot. It doesn’t count toward the Egyptian goal record, but it helped propel his country to victory.
Salah is in what could be the 34-year-old’s last World Cup, a theme in this tournament with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo both most likely playing their last as well.
“I don’t know if it’s gonna be the last dance for a few great players or no? But my feeling today is it’s incredible,” Salah said. “I always feel proud to wear this shirt. Nothing makes me more proud than that. Always like seeing the boys happy and enjoying the moment — nothing can match that.
“So today was one of the best days of my life. Make the history with the team and try to give my best and play while I’m hurt, but this is what I do for the country. So, yeah, I’m very proud of the moment. I’m very proud of the boys, and I don’t want to take any credit from them.”
Egypt will advance to play the winner of Friday’s game between Argentina and Cape Verde.
A win over Argentina would send Egypt to the quarterfinals. Salah talked about how he’ll prepare but focused on celebrating the accomplishment.
“I prepare first mentally. I always try to enjoy every moment because it will not come back, so always tell the boys just enjoy the moment, and probably we see in the internet in a few minutes how we’re gonna celebrate outside of us now,” he said. “But yeah we can’t take it for granted, because Egypt, I don’t know how many times we play in the World Cup, [but] it’s never before we qualified in a group stage. Now we qualified and qualified the next round, so it’s just a moment to enjoy. So we’re gonna do that to the max today, and probably tomorrow. Then yeah, we just have to close our door again and just focus the next game.”
Salah had picked Messi when he was asked which legend he would like to play, and he will get that chance if the Argentines can advance, which they’re heavily favored to do Friday against Cape Verde.
This story was originally published July 3, 2026 at 4:39 PM.
