Yekaterinburg – Egypt coach Hector Cuper was pondering
what might have been on Saturday after opting to leave out forward
Mohamed Salah for Friday's 1-0 loss to Uruguay at the World Cup.
The Liverpool player, who scored 44 goals in a stunning season in
England, hurt his shoulder in the Champions League final loss to Real
Madrid last month but Cuper said on the eve of the Uruguay game that
Salah was fit.
However, he decided not to risk him on Friday in the hope he would be
be totally fit for the other Group A clashes against Russia on
Tuesday and Saudi Arabia. The ploy looked to be working but backfired
when Jose Gimenez headed in a late winner.
"Perhaps if Mo had been on the pitch, the outcome would have been
different but we can't know that," Cuper told reporters.
"There was some doubt if he fell or was hit by another player, and we
wanted to avoid a risk," Cuper said. "We want to have him in top form
for Russia and Saudi Arabia."
But given Russia got off to a flying start with a 5-0 win over the
Saudi's in the tournament's opening game, Egypt are now playing catch
up and even the pace and skills of Salah might not be enough.