Salah has done nothing for Egypt – ex-Egypt manager
Former Egypt Pharaohs boss Hassan Shehata has slammed Mohamed Salah’s international career, stating that the Liverpool star man has done nothing for Egypt.
Salah broke into the Egypt national team set-up as an under-23 player in 2011 while he played for Egyptian club Al Mokawloon. His exploits for the team led to interest from Europe and in 2012, he was off to FC Basel in Switzerland. He has since grown to become a global superstar through his exploits in European club football and has featured prominently for teams in the Serie A and Premier League.
His exploits for Liverpool in particular have seen the club become the most successful they have been in decades. They won their first Premier League title in the 2019/20 season which was also their first top-flight title in 29 years. They also won their sixth UEFA Champions League title in the 2018/19 season to stand out among the rest in England as the most successful club from that region in European competition.
Without Salah’s contributions, the club would have struggled a bit to achieve all of these. But despite his impeccable form at club level, his international career is lacking the gloss that many superstars of his calibre have when they don their home country's colours. These are the points that former Egypt manager Shehata, under who Egypt stormed to three consecutive African Cup of Nations titles between 2006 and 2010 to set a record of being the only team to achieve that feat, has based his statement on.
What has been said
Shehata, who is now retired from active management and is currently the chair of a charitable under-16 football tournament for orphans and disenfranchised children in his home country of Egypt, said that Salah has not used his international clout for the good of Egypt football on and off the pitch.
The 75-year-old said to Egypt Independent: "Technically, and I’m sorry to say this, but Mohamed Salah [has done] nothing with the national team. He should have done much better than that. He must provide more when he plays for his country.
“He should have said this to the officials here, although he is not the one who chooses the players, but he should have said that the players here are not like the players in England. Therefore, the coaches have to find a way to open the space for Salah. We must find players to help him appear properly in the pitch."
Salah’s record with Egypt is not entirely bad, however. The former AS Roma man is second on the list of Egypt’s all-time goalscorers with 47 goals in 85 matches, which is a better goal-to-game ratio than the legendary Hossam Hassan, who scored 68 in 175 matches.
Salah has also been national team captain since 2017 and almost singlehandedly dragged Egypt to the 2018 World Cup in Russia, their first World Cup appearance since 1990. He has also led Egypt to two runner-up finishes in the AFCON since that time.
Shehata is right about Salah needing to pull more weight with the Egypt national team, however, the jury is out on if all the Liverpool man’s achievements with the Pharaohs are ‘nothing’ in the real sense of the word.
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