{"id":764688,"date":"2026-06-27T23:53:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T23:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/764688\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T23:53:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T23:53:18","slug":"fifa-world-cup-news-2026-socceroos-to-face-egypt-in-round-of-32-mohammad-salah-injury-concern-mitch-austin-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/764688\/","title":{"rendered":"FIFA World Cup news 2026: Socceroos to face Egypt in round of 32, Mohammad Salah injury concern, Mitch Austin comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Egypt<\/a> may have the likes of Mo Salah<\/a> and Omar Maroush on their side, but their upcoming round of 32 battle against Australia won\u2019t be an easy task. <\/p>\n

It took 24 hours after the Socceroos<\/a>\u2032 final group stage game to learn who their opponent was and Egypt\u2019s draw with Iran confirmed the clash<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"Mo<\/p>\n

Mo Salah is just two goals away from becoming Egypt’s all-time leading goalscorer.\u00a0Fran Santiago<\/p>\n

The Pharaohs will enter the round of 32 with one major injury cloud hanging over their team, superstar winger Salah, who lasted just 57 minutes against Iran. <\/p>\n

The thrill of the final 30 minutes of that 1-1 draw to Iran overshadowed Salah\u2019s injury scare, even though the nation\u2019s captain sat with ice on his hamstring. <\/p>\n

He was all smiles as celebrated his team\u2019s win on Saturday but Egypt coach Hossam Hassan confirmed he will need to undergo scans before the next game.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not an ideal situation for Egypt to be in nor would Australian fans want to see Salah sidelined, given his standing as a Premier League<\/a> legend with Liverpool<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If he is sidelined, pressure would only grow on Marmoush to deliver a remarkable performance and help his team dismiss the Socceroos. <\/p>\n

But aside from Marmoush and Salah, former Socceroos player Mitch Austin feels the green and gold actually boast the better line-up. <\/p>\n

\u201cOutside of (Marmoush and Salah), I don\u2019t want to be too confident, but I think the rest of the squad on paper I\u2019d probably happily take most of the Socceroos guys (to form a team),\u201d Austin said on Stan Sport\u2019s Added Time. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf I were Nestory Irankunda looking at their back four, I\u2019d be licking my lips. They\u2019ve not too much pace at the back there.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know what Marmoush can do from Manchester City with his pace – we need to lock him down … but defensively Egypt, they\u2019ve just not been great. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven Mo Salah, he\u2019s playing more central (opposed to the wing). When he\u2019s drifted out onto that right-hand side that is when he seems to cause the problem. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think if we can contain him to the middle of the park and we don\u2019t let him get on that half turn, I think we can really lock down Egypt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to Egypt\u2019s draw on Saturday (AEST), it looked highly likely that Australia\u2019s round of 32 opponent would be either Belgium or Iran. <\/p>\n

While they haven\u2019t been the most impressive throughout the group, Belgium possess world-class talent and former Matildas star Amy Harrison was happy to see the Socceroos avoid them after a dominant 5-1 win over New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\"Egypt<\/p>\n

Egypt players after their crucial draw with Iran on Saturday.\u00a0AP Photo\/Lindsey Wasson<\/p>\n

Iran, on the other hand, would have brought a tactical challenge for Tony Popovic to organise his team, making Egby the best option of the lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cAvoiding (Belgium) was probably for the best,\u201d she told Stan Sport\u2019s Added Time. <\/p>\n

\u201cEgypt, I actually fancy. They\u2019ve obviously got Mo Salah and Omar Marmoush, excellent players that are world-class and can make something out of nothing … but we had Argentina four years ago and nearly came up with something. <\/p>\n

\u201cWho\u2019s not to say we can\u2019t do something special against Egypt? It\u2019s such an exciting tie. As a player, if you\u2019re supporting Liverpool and you\u2019re playing against Mo Salah – unreal. I\u2019m super excited about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The match between Egypt and Australia will take place on Saturday, July 4 (AEST). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Egypt may have the likes of Mo Salah and Omar Maroush on their side, but their upcoming round…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":764689,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-764688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764688","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=764688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/764689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=764688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=764688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=764688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}