At 03:30 Beijing time on March 26, the first leg of the third stage of the World Preliminary Tournament in Africa, Salah opened with a oolong in the opening 4 minutes, and finally Egypt won 1-0 at home to Senegal, taking advantage of the promotion opportunity. For Senegal, they could repeat the tragedy of Italy, as an intercontinental champion team, but missed the World Cup.
42 days ago, Salah's Egypt and Mane's Senegal met in the African Cup of Nations final, and neither side was able to resolve the battle for 120 minutes, and finally Senegal beat Egypt 4-2 on penalties to win the championship.
Now, the World Preliminary Tournament in the African Zone is once again staged in the "Liverpool Derby". According to the format, there are a total of 5 teams in the African region that can qualify for the World Cup, and now there are 5 groups of matches left in the third stage of the African World Preliminary Tournament, which means that the winning side of the two legs can get a World Cup ticket.
In the first leg of the match between Egypt and Senegal, both sides actually played more generally, and the combined number of shots of the two teams was only 6. However, the Egyptian side won a crucial 1-0 victory thanks to Salah's oolong ball in the opening to create Senegalese right-back Sith. As long as the next round is tied with Senegal, Egypt can directly qualify for the World Cup.
The 2018 World Cup is Egypt's return to the World Cup after a gap of 28 years. They have only participated in three World Cups in their history, but they have not yet participated in two consecutive World Cups. Now, Salah is expected to lead Egypt to make history, and they are only one step away from this historical record.
Trailing 1-0 in the first leg put Africa Cup of Nations champions Senegal on the brink of exit. European Champions Italy have been knocked out by North Macedonia and now another continental champions may not qualify for the World Cup. Like Egypt, Senegal played in the last World Cup, and that was only the second time in Senegal's history that it had reached the World Cup finals. This time, whether it is Egypt or Senegal, it is destined to make history, because neither team has ever participated in two consecutive World Cups.