Published: 10:48, 17 Nov 2023
Egypt convincingly started their journey towards the 2026 World Cup on Thursday evening. Mohamed Salah marked the resounding victory over Djibouti with a first, signing off with his signature. The Liverpool star forward has never before scored four times in an international match.
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Salah once scored four times in the Premier League, in March 2018 against Watford (5-0). In more than ninety international matches for Egypt, the 31-year-old left-footer had already made a hat-trick more than ten years ago in the World Cup qualifying match against Zimbabwe, but scoring four times in one match had not yet been achieved by the star player of Egypt.
Until Thursday evening, that is. Salah opened the scoring against Djibouti just seventeen minutes in, following an assist from FC Nantes forward Mostafa Mohamed, and doubled the lead five minutes later by confidently converting a penalty. Shortly after halftime, Salah completed his hat-trick, and in the 69th minute, he scored for the fourth time.
As fellow forwards Mohamed and Trézéguet also scored, Egypt had a very comfortable start to the qualifying campaign for the 2026 World Cup in America, Canada, and Mexico, which will feature 48 participants. The nine group winners in the African zone will directly qualify for the tournament, with one more ticket available through the playoffs.
Updated: 10:48, 17 Nov 2023
