{"id":38592,"date":"2026-07-02T11:22:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T09:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&p=38592"},"modified":"2026-07-02T11:22:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T09:22:18","slug":"salah-fitness-race-in-focus-for-egypt-ahead-of-australia-clash","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/salah-fitness-race-in-focus-for-egypt-ahead-of-australia-clash\/","title":{"rendered":"Salah fitness race in focus for Egypt ahead of Australia clash"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mohamed Salah remains in a race to be ready for Egypt’s last 32 clash with Australia in Dallas on Friday with the forward continuing his recovery from \u200ba hamstring strain sustained in the 1-1 draw with Iran.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Egyptians are in the \u200cknockout rounds for the first time after group phase eliminations in 1990 and 2018 and Salah’s availability is a key concern for coach Hossam Hassan ahead of the clash with Tony Popovic’s side.<\/p>\n

A video of Salah working \u200bout in the gym away from team mates on the training pitch was posted \u200bon social media on Wednesday, suggesting the 34-year-old could be fit enough to \u2060play a part at Dallas Stadium.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“The road back begins,” said the latest post, “and the King is \u200bcoming back stronger.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The draw with the Iranians booked Egypt’s place in the last 32 as runners-up\u00a0\u200bin Group G after a win over New Zealand and an opening stalemate with Belgium.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Salah’s stellar talent and reputation have been a focal point in the lead-up to the game for the Australians, who are attempting to\u00a0\u200bwin in the knockout rounds for the first time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\nThe Socceroos have moved past the group phase \u200bfor the third time in their history and for a second World Cup in a row having been \u200cknocked \u2060out in Qatar in 2022 by eventual winners Argentina in the last 16 under former coach Graham Arnold.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Popovic’s side started their 2026 campaign with a win over Turkey before losing 2-0 to the United States and drawing 0-0 with Paraguay to finish second in Group D.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The prospect or otherwise \u200bof facing Salah has \u200bdominated the build-up but \u2060full back Jordan Bos stressed the Australians would not be overawed if they do face the Premier League and Champions League winner.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“Maybe off the \u200bfield there’s some respect, but on the field there’s no respect,” Bos \u200bsaid. “It’s eat \u2060or be eaten. That’s how everyone’s going to go into the game, and that’s how I’ll go into the game.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“Mo Salah is a top player. He’s been at the top for a very long \u2060time. We’ll \u200bdefinitely have to look at how we can stop \u200bhim and Egypt.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“We’ve already done a little bit about that, and it’s just fine-tuning and seeing what the coach and\u00a0\u200bthe staff have in mind to help us with that.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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–Reuters–<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":37702,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-38592","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The draw with the Iranians booked Egypt's place in the last 32.","published_date":"","news_description":"The draw with the Iranians booked Egypt's place in the last 32.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38593,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38592\/revisions\/38593"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=38592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}