{"id":343591,"date":"2025-12-12T17:29:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T17:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/343591\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T17:29:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T17:29:07","slug":"a-crisis-involving-salah-is-a-crisis-for-the-nation-egypt-backs-golden-child-mohamed-salah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/343591\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A crisis involving Salah is a crisis for the nation\u2019: Egypt backs \u2018golden child\u2019 | Mohamed Salah"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mohamed Salah\u2019s stature in Egypt means his every move dominates public discourse. It was therefore entirely predictable that the forward\u2019s comments<\/a> after Liverpool\u2019s 3-3 draw at Leeds<\/a> \u2013 where he was relegated to the bench for a third consecutive game \u2013 he would become the singular, all-consuming topic across his homeland\u2019s sports media.<\/p>\n

\u201cEgyptian media was always going to stand by Salah,\u201d says the Egyptian journalist and co-founder of the sports website KingFut, Adam Moustafa. \u201cWhen you look at the content over the last five years or so of Egyptian football, 60-70% has been based around him. He\u2019s a unique status that we\u2019ve never had, for someone abroad to be so successful. He\u2019s the golden child of Egypt.\u201d<\/p>\n

The true measure of Salah\u2019s cultural weight became clear in the breadth of national conversation, as talk around his interview spilled beyond the confines of football punditry. One of Egypt\u2019s most known news presenters, Amr Adib, whose loud, brash political and economic opinions often go viral for all the wrong reasons, staunchly came to Salah\u2019s defence. Political commentators dissected Salah\u2019s words through the lens of negotiation tactics. Even YouTube film critics and foodie TikTokers felt compelled to offer their analysis. \u201cIt feels as if every public voice has an opinion to air,\u201d says the president of one of Liverpool\u2019s oldest fanclubs in Egypt, Ahmed Fahmy. \u201cThe dramatics of it all proves that a crisis involving Salah is a crisis for the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike in the UK, the consensus in Egypt was overwhelmingly supportive of Salah, with an almost uniform agreement he was justified in his public interview. \u201cWe\u2019re getting two ends of the spectrum,\u201d says Moustafa.<\/p>\n

While British media were quick to describe Salah as disrespectful and selfish, in Egypt the main view was that his character and past form should give him enough credit in the bank for him to air his grievances. \u201cThe conversation about how Salah broke the sacred dressing-room code, that doesn\u2019t really exist here,\u201d says Fahmy. \u201cOur football culture has always revered its stars \u2013 over managers, over clubs \u2013 and sees little benefit in keeping things quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n

The finger of blame was quickly pointed at everyone but Salah. Online analyses on football websites blamed Arne Slot, with FilGoal labelling the Liverpool manager a \u201ccoward\u201d and Salah an \u201copportunist\u201d in the headline of a piece that said: \u201c[Salah] is like a boxer who appears calm, dodging blows, then pounces and delivers his knockout punch, thus deciding the fight in his favour.\u201d At Kooora, Slot was accused of \u201cdouble standards\u201d as Virgil van Dijk\u2019s mistakes this season left the author wondering why the captain had not been dropped. Television pundits theorised that Michael Edwards, the chief executive of football at Liverpool\u2019s owner, Fenway Sports Group, and the club\u2019s sporting director, Richard Hughes, would have been unhappy with Salah\u2019s public contract pleas last season and pondered whether they were who the Egyptian was referring to when he said \u201csomeone doesn\u2019t want me at the club\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mohamed Salah has drawn sympathy in part thanks to his homeland\u2019s culture of revering star players over managers or clubs. Photograph: Oli Scarff\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Jamie Carragher fanned the flames. On Sky Sports, he described Salah as a \u201cChelsea failure\u201d who threw Trent Alexander-Arnold \u201cunder the bus for eight years\u201d and questioned his lack of a trophy with Egypt. The former Egypt forward Mido, known in the UK for stints with Spurs and Middlesbrough, said Carragher \u201cexploit[s] any situation to always be in the spotlight\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mido added: \u201cHe was a very average player \u2026 and tries to compensate for this by criticising star players. But this style of media has proven, throughout history, to be very short-lived. He would not be able to say those comments about an English player. I lived in England for years. English people are very kind but, unfortunately, in certain situations, they are harsh [on foreign players].\u201d<\/p>\n

Fahmy says: \u201cPundits have a responsibility to get their facts right. Especially if they go on live television to criticise a player. Carragher may think Salah was a Chelsea reject but Liverpool did not save Salah\u2019s career. He was one of the best players in Serie A when he signed. Likewise, J\u00fcrgen Klopp would not have put up with him if he threw his right-back under the bus for seven seasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

A myriad of former Egypt players came to Salah\u2019s defence alongside Mido, including Hazem Emam and Mohamed Aboutrika, the latter widely regarded as one of Africa\u2019s greatest players. Both emphasised Carragher\u2019s lack of context regarding Salah\u2019s failure to win an Africa Cup of Nations. After Egypt won their most recent of seven Afcon titles in 2010<\/a>, the country experienced extreme political turmoil. Seventy-four people died in the 2012 Port Said stadium riot<\/a> \u2013 including a fan who died in Aboutrika\u2019s arms<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A two-year suspension of the Egyptian Premier League followed which was detrimental given the team\u2019s heavy reliance on domestic players. With most of the squad retiring and a lack of funding and resources, Egypt failed to qualify for the 2012, 2013 and 2015 editions of Afcon. Salah is widely agreed to be the catalyst for Egypt\u2019s return to prominence, guiding them to two Afcon finals and qualifying for two World Cups<\/a>, an achievement that eluded the previous golden generation.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if I were to assume [Carragher\u2019s] point was Salah needs a team to win titles,\u201d says Fahmy, \u201chis proof \u2013 what he was using to back up said point \u2013 was factually incorrect. If it is all false, does your argument hold merit?\u201d<\/p>\n

After Liverpool host Brighton on Saturday, Salah will join Egypt for his fifth Afcon campaign. \u201cI think this is going to spur Salah to prove his point,\u201d says Moustafa. \u201cHe\u2019s going to want to redirect that anger and motivation on to the pitch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to believe he wasn\u2019t trying in past editions but I think he always had an eye on returning to Liverpool, and 1765560547, maybe he\u2019s not sure where he ends up. I think you\u2019re going to see a man whose back is against the wall.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Pharaohs, drawn in Group B alongside Angola, South Africa and Zimbabwe, are expected to advance to the knockout stages. But there are persistent questions about whether Hossam Hassan, Egypt\u2019s all-time top scorer and head coach since February 2024, can guide an ageing and uneven squad to the title with the lacklustre support of a failing federation.<\/p>\n

One certainty remains: Egyptians will defend their captain vehemently until the end. In their eyes, Salah has long since earned their loyalty and respect and there is little that could make their commitment to him waver.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mohamed Salah\u2019s stature in Egypt means his every move dominates public discourse. It was therefore entirely predictable that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-343591","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}