Behind the carnival of one group of people is the loneliness of another group of people. In the early morning of the 30th, the African World Preliminary Tournament ushered in the night of qualifying, salah, who led the team to advance to the last World Cup, failed to continue to write the magic, following the African Cup final, once again lost to the old enemy Senegal.
Even more poignantly, Salah, the first to stand on 12 yards, kicked the penalty into the stands... In the crazy laser pointer illumination of Senegalese fans, he was completely muted in the qualifiers and could not change his life after all.
After Qatar, which has no chance of being separated by a sea, salah's fate with the national team seems to have reached a delicate inflection point.
0 goals and 0 assists
On March 30, the World Qualifiers qualified for the night of the battle royale, and the African region ushered in its most tragic day.
Before Senegal and Egypt were defeated, the famous Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria and Algeria had already been out, but Salah and Mane only had one to go to the World Cup, which undoubtedly pushed the "squid game" to the peak.
There is no doubt that the final round of the World Preliminary Tournament in Africa is one of the most brutal knockout matches on the planet – there is no evasion in the draw, and the two-legged home-and-away game is set to die.
Even the well-informed Egyptian coach Queiroz shook his head at the format: "If I make the rules, I will let the two teams with the best performance in the African Cup of Nations advance, and we have met too many times in the past three months." ”
Although in the analysis of the research institute We Global Football, the Egyptian team, which won a small one-goal victory in the first leg, had a 72% chance of qualifying, the discerning person can see that Senegal, which ranks 16th in FIFA (the highest in Africa) and has a total value of 260 million euros (100 million euros more than the Egyptian team), is the one closer to the qualifier.
Throughout the game, the "Tranga Lions" shot up to 26 times, with 10 shots on target, while the Egyptian team just shot a fraction of the opponent. Under the indiscriminate bombardment of the other side, the Egyptian team was forced to change two people in a row due to tactical needs in the first half, just because a oolong ball on the side survived to the end of regular time, which was not easy.
The Egyptian goalkeeper was hit by a laser pointer.
However, the Egyptian team, which has been harassed by local fans since the day they stayed in Dakar, felt helplessness from beginning to end: the team bus was delayed for half an hour before the attack, the fans in the stands threw bottles at the warm-up Egyptian players, and played racially racist slogans at Salah.
But all this outrageous moves reached their peak in the penalty shootout: hundreds of laser pointers in the stands were always shining on the faces of Egyptian players, and the good end of the stadium almost became a dance floor.
What is even more desperate is that the players who take penalties on both sides are not in the same class at all: Senegal also have 2 shots, but the 5 penalty players and goalkeeper Mendy are all from the top five leagues; while Egypt, except Salah, the rest of the players are playing in the domestic league. The experiences of the two sides are not the same.
This also means that once Salah is muted, the Egyptian team cannot win, which is a high probability event. In the first leg of the first leg of the meeting between the two sides, Salah, who was closely guarded, still created an opponent oolong, but this time, repeating the "pharaoh" of the African Cup final, the whole audience almost evaporated.
Throughout the World Preliminaries, salah's full stats, stuck in 0 goals and 0 assists... In a head-to-head confrontation with club teammate Mane, Salah was twice the loser of grief.
Success also penalties, defeat also penalties
If time could be turned back, would Salah regret his decision to stand 12 yards? The answer is obviously: no.
Just 5 years ago in October, Egypt, which won to ensure early qualification, was entangled in the Congo at home to the last moment of the game, and the injury time stage was a once-in-a-lifetime penalty opportunity, Salah did not let go of standing 12 yards, and he hit steadily, so that Egypt completed the kill and returned to the World Cup stage after 27 years.
At that moment, Salah was officially enshrined: since then, Egyptian heads have frequently appeared on bars, stands, highway billboards, and several domestic business celebrities and forbes listed big names have competed to give him villas and sports cars.
Even in that year's Egyptian presidential election, the Liverpool striker, who was not a candidate, unexpectedly received more than 1 million votes, more than the second most popular candidate who ran for the election...
Needless to say, that penalty, compared to salah's many wonderful goals in his career, is really not worth mentioning in terms of ornamentation, but the importance is needless to say.
However, five years later, when the country continues to expect their national hero to turn the tide, Salah's two memories of penalties are gray.
In the African Cup of Nations final a month ago, the Egyptian team, which was surviving under the wild bombardment of Senegal, waited for the difficult penalty shootout opportunity. However, Chelsea goalkeeper Mendy shattered Salah's dream of winning ahead of schedule, and Egypt lost the final by losing two of their first four rounds of home penalties.
In the arrangement of manager Queiroz, Salah, who was ready to play the fifth decisive penalty, could not even wait for his own round. Witnessing this scene, Liverpool star Carragher could not help but sigh: "He is like C Ronaldo when he was against Spain, he is not ready to take the penalty, the game is over." ”
Now that he can withstand the pressure in the decisive moment and stand on the penalty spot again, Salah obviously does not want to regret doing it again. However, the crazy laser pointer illumination of the Senegalese home fans made Salah, who was preparing for the penalty, almost turn into a Hulk.
Slow-motion replays showed the Egyptian captain closing his eyes almost the entire time before preparing for the penalty, completely unable to observe Mendy's movements.
And the powerful shot after the run, high above the crossbar, Mendy did not even react, Salah's eyes were full of frustration. This also significantly affected the mentality of the Egyptian players when they took the next penalty, 4 rounds of penalties, Egypt only scored 1 goal, and was killed in the early round.
Unlike covering his face and crying on the spot after losing the final a month ago, Salah's emotional management this time was quite restrained, and even after the game, he celebrated to his teammate Mane, who scored the winning penalty for the second time: "Mane and I should have joined forces in the World Cup, but unfortunately, only one person can qualify. ”
Mane is ahead of Salah to qualify for the World Cup.
Farewell moment, early arrival?
The folding of the World Preliminary Round means that the short peak period of Egyptian football in the past 5 years is coming to an end.
In the past 5 years, the Egyptian team has returned to the World Cup and reached the final of the African Cup of Nations, from a ground snake that could only be "nested" in the African Cup of Nations in the past to a presence that can show itself on the international stage.
But after losing this morning, Portugal's veteran coach Queiroz, who has traveled on all continents, issued a resignation statement after the game: "I just expressed my comfort to the players, if I can be like Cisse, coaching in the Senegalese coaching position for 7 years, then it may be us who win today." It's time to hand over the Coaching Position for the Egyptian team to someone else. ”
Although he has not been with the team for a long time, since he joined the team last year, Queiroz has continuously instilled the team football concept in the Egyptian team and maximized his contacts, prompting Egyptian players to go to the European League to broaden their horizons and enhance their experience. The departure of the old coach is undoubtedly a heavy blow to the Egyptian team.
The Egyptian Football Association, which retained Queiros, spewed its anger at Senegal's off-board moves, and they have already collected evidence on laser pointer irradiation and appealed to FIFA and the African Football Federation.
But it is clear that in Africa, where absurd tricks are endless, the possibility of a replay between the two sides is almost zero, at most it is a fine + an empty game, which is really irrelevant for Senegal, which has already qualified.
Salah, who can only watch club teammate Mane, is afraid that it is time to rethink the way forward: after the 2018 World Cup, Salah, who cannot withstand the criticism of the domestic media, once made the decision to temporarily leave the national team, and now, as the core of the poor performance, after the two major goals have been lost in 1 month, it is obvious that he also needs a window period to calm his emotions.
But unlike before, Liverpool are no longer Salah's safe haven – a year of unsuccessful renewal negotiations has made Salah's future at Anfield more nuanced than ever.
With a weekly salary of 400,000 pounds, it is not too much for a number one hero who has won the Champions League and the Premier League for Liverpool, but the American capitalists, who are not ready to spend a lot of money, have repeatedly chosen silence in the face of this figure...
In the summer of 2023, Salah will be full, and it is clear that Liverpool will never release people for free, and this summer Salah will be on the ball market, almost the only option.
Four years ago in the summer, Salah also faced a double choice between the national team and the club: in the Egyptian team, he faced the most violent public opinion storm in his life; and at the club, Real Madrid, which released C Ronaldo, once extended an olive branch to the Egyptians.
This time, how will he choose? (Supine Braces/Yang Jian)
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