Changing lanes, Mo Salah liberates himself | Football News

Kolkata: For 58 minutes, Mohamed Salah was trapped between two chapters of his life. The first belonged to the not-so-distant past, where his Liverpool career was wrestling with decline, uncertainty and the uncomfortable reality that football’s relentless cycle eventually comes for everyone. One where his final season at Anfield had ended amid friction, disappointment and questions over what had remained from what seemed an endless fracas.The other remained stubbornly out of reach. It was the version of Salah still capable of influencing games at the grandest of stages and reminding the world why he still is one of the defining footballers of his generation. A goal down against New Zealand, Egypt needed him to make that leap of faith. Eventually, he did.The scoreline will show a 3-1 victory for Egypt, their first World Cup win and a result that keeps their campaign alive in a very interesting group. But it won’t tell you how the scoreline unfolded. For almost an hour, a higher-ranked Egypt looked anxious, disconnected and burdened by expectation.With it loomed a thought that probably this was how Salah’s World Cup story was destined to end. It was never kind to him anyway. In 2018, he arrived carrying hopes of a nation but also the consequences of a damaged shoulder suffered in Liverpool’s Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid. He scored once but it didn’t matter since Egypt lost all three matches. Four years later there was no World Cup as they failed to qualify.For a player whose reputation was built on consistency and longevity, these were inconsistencies Salah could do nothing about. But the World Cup is also unfinished business. Now 34 and suddenly unattached after leaving Liverpool, the stakes feel different for Salah.The equaliser arrived through persistence, Mohamed Hany’s cross found Mostafa Zico, whose powerful header finally broke New Zealand’s resistance. Suddenly, Salah looked more alive. Nine minutes later came the moment Egypt, and Salah, had been waiting for. Collecting the ball near the corner of the penalty area, Salah held off Michael Boxall and exchanged a one-two with Zico. The return arrived perfectly and Salah swept the ball underneath the diving New Zealand goalkeeper.It wasn’t merely a goal but a release. Egypt simply hadn’t snatched the lead, their talisman had asserted himself when his team needed him the most. When Mahmoud Hassan Trezeguet headed home Salah’s corner to make it 3-1, the transformation felt complete. One goal, one assist—a match that had been drifting away suddenly belonged to Salah. Statistics rarely capture the emotion of a game but they do illuminate influence. Five shots on his own, five set up for his team—no other player has been involved in more shots during a single game in this World Cup than Salah against New Zealand.“I am maybe the first coach to let him play in a position that matches his danger,” Hassan said afterwards. Perhaps that’s true. Perhaps Egypt are finally discovering how best to use their greatest player. But this surge of faith was also equal parts Salah finally playing with the belief that was once taken for granted at Liverpool. Leaving Anfield could have easily represented the beginning of the end. But perhaps that absence of certainty has forced the kind of clarity Egypt are now benefitting from.The search for a new club of course continues. But for at least one night in Vancouver, first at the BC Place ground and then on the streets where Egyptians were carrying Salah on their shoulders, those questions felt secondary. Only because Salah had rediscovered something more valuable than a club offer. This feels like a second chance.For Egypt, this victory ended a 92-year wait for a World Cup win. One victory, however, barely changes anything in the wider hierarchy of international football. Despite topping the table right now, Egypt remain firm outsiders in this World Cup with Iran still left to play.But for Salah, this win may have ended a lingering suspicion that his greatest days are entwined only with his club career. For the first time since leaving Liverpool, Salah has a new horizon to chase. And if the manner of Egypt’s comeback win against New Zealand is any indication, Salah still remains remarkably capable of leading this charge.