Egypt will leave Mohamed Salah’s start against Australia to a match-morning call, with coach Hossam Hassan refusing on Thursday to risk a hamstrung captain whose every step through training has been measured. The Pharaohs meet the Socceroos at Dallas Stadium later on Friday in the FIFA World Cup 2026 round of 32, the first knockout match Egypt have ever played in the men’s tournament.
Salah joined partial team training on Wednesday and was present and “appeared relatively unencumbered” during the 15 minutes of Thursday’s session that media were permitted to watch, per the report from Dallas on Salah’s training return. He will be reassessed on Friday morning. “I am not going to run any risk unless I am sure that he is 100 percent sure of the fact that he is fit and raring to go tomorrow,” Hassan said through a FIFA interpreter at his prematch news conference. “We look forward to him playing tomorrow, not sure though whether he is going to be in the starting lineup.”
The Knock That Started The Clock
Salah had been the team’s reference point all tournament. His go-ahead goal in a 3-1 comeback win over New Zealand at BC Place in Vancouver was the 68th of his international career and the strike that ended a 92-year wait for a men’s World Cup victory, a finish that left the Liverpool forward one shy of manager Hossam Hassan’s all-time Egypt scoring record.
Five days later, in the Group G finale against Iran in Seattle on June 26, the captain asked to be substituted in the 57th minute, holding his leg as he walked from the pitch with the score at 1-1. The Egyptian Football Association confirmed the diagnosis the following day. “Scans carried out on Egypt captain Mohamed Salah confirm that he is suffering from a hamstring strain, for which he has begun treatment,” the FA said in a statement carried by the CAF report on Egypt’s injury update. The 34-year-old entered an intensive rehabilitation programme aimed at getting him on the field in Dallas, and by Wednesday was back in partial team training. The training update before the Australia tie covered the squad’s final session on Thursday.
Hassan Draws A Line At 100 Percent
“Against Iran, we learned that he suffered a hamstring strain during the second half of the match and asked to be substituted,” Hassan said on Thursday. “Our very distinguished medical department took care of that, and we tried to introduce him to partial team training as of yesterday only.” The coach was blunt about the bar for Friday.
“But Salah is a passionate player; he is very much looking forward to making his own contributions with his teammates tomorrow,” Hassan continued. “But of course, I am not going to run any risk unless I am sure that he is 100 percent sure of the fact that he is fit and raring to go tomorrow. We look forward to him playing tomorrow, not sure though whether he is going to be in the starting lineup.” Hassan said the level of involvement, if any, would be decided “late this morning” on Friday.
If Salah plays, it will be the first match action he has seen since the New Zealand win on Sunday in Vancouver. “I am planning to have him for the match, whether in the starting lineup or at a later stage,” Hassan added. The Egyptian squad trained in Dallas on Thursday, and the dressing room is unusually well-stocked for a knockout game.
We will be fine. We are not playing rugby here, we are playing football, not American football.
The line, from a question about Australia’s height, came in Hassan’s press conference on Thursday.
Marmoush Waits In The Wings
If Salah does not start, the attacking responsibility falls on Omar Marmoush. The Manchester City forward, who moved to the Premier League from Eintracht Frankfurt in January 2025, has made eight starts in 21 league appearances for City this season, mostly used as a substitute by Pep Guardiola. In this World Cup he has yet to score or assist, and his only 90-minute appearance came in the opening 1-1 draw with Belgium in Seattle, Egypt’s first game of the tournament. A 2-0 lead, an own goal, a come-from-behind draw: the goals have come from elsewhere, including Mostafa Zico’s assist on Salah’s winner against New Zealand, the Egypt opener that set up a 92-year wait for the next.
Marmoush, per the same Dallas report, “is expected to start, but has yet to fire in North America and was forced to come off the bench in the draw with Iran.” Per FotMob, the forward has 3 goals and 3 assists in 699 minutes in the 2025/26 Premier League, an average match rating of 6.94, well short of the output that took him to City in a January 2025 deal reported at the time to be in the region of €70m. Egypt’s attack without a fully fit Salah is a thinner thing than it has looked, and Hassan’s reluctance is the one luxury a team that has gone unbeaten through the group stage can still afford.
Salah’s 68 international goals in 118 caps have been the team’s reference point all tournament. None of the alternatives, Mahmoud Saber, Trézéguet or Mostafa Zico, carry the same weight; Trézéguet’s late header in the New Zealand win was his first World Cup goal, and Zico set up Salah’s go-ahead strike in the same match. Egypt’s opening 1-1 draw with Belgium in Seattle is where most of this squad first showed they could compete at this level.
If a 99 percent Salah is not enough for Hassan, the bench will carry the load. The bench has not done so at this tournament, and the next 90 minutes will be a different test than the three group games that came before.
Three More Names In The Treatment Room
Salah is not the only fitness doubt. Left-back Ahmed Fattouh is out after suffering a hamstring tear against Iran, the Egyptian FA confirmed, and his absence forces a reshuffle at full-back. “Regarding Ahmed Fattouh’s injury, he is suffering from a hamstring tear, making it difficult for him to recover in time for the Round of 32 match against Australia at the FIFA World Cup 2026,” the FA said in a statement. The defender’s likely replacement will be one of the younger options Hassan has been carrying through the tournament.
There is more optimism around Mohamed Abdelmonem. The Nice defender, playing his first World Cup match after a long spell out with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, was forced off against Iran in tears with severe ankle bruising. “Mohamed Abdelmonem has suffered severe ankle bruising and is being readied for the game,” the FA said, and the bruising is “not believed to be as damaging as first feared.” Midfielder Mohanad Lasheen is suspended, leaving Hassan to dig deeper into a squad that finished Group G unbeaten on five points.
Australia Brings A Wall Of Tall Men
The Socceroos arrive in Dallas unbeaten in the group stage, with a defensive spine built for set-pieces and aerial duels. Centre-backs Alessandro Circati, Harry Souttar and Lucas Herrington, plus goalkeeper Patrick Beach, are all at least 190 cm tall, the foundation of a side that kept clean sheets against Türkiye and Paraguay in the group stage. Coach Tony Popovic has built the Australian approach around physicality and wide delivery into the box.
“Yes, we prepared for Mohamed Salah playing,” Popovic said on Thursday. “We’ve seen when he’s not on the pitch, the players that are in those positions where he may play, so we prepare for both scenarios, and we’ll see you tomorrow.” Australia qualified second in their group and have not lost a knockout match at a men’s World Cup since a round-of-16 exit to Argentina in 2022.
Per the match centre listing kickoff and officials, Friday’s game starts at 18:00 UTC, 13:00 local time in Dallas, 04:00 on Saturday in Canberra and 21:00 in Cairo, with referee Gustavo Tejera in charge. The winner advances to a round-of-16 tie next week.
First Knockout Win, Or The Long Walk Home
The 2026 tournament is the first time Egypt have reached the men’s World Cup knockout stage. Their 1934 debut in Italy ended with a 2-4 loss to Hungary; the 1990 squad drew three and went home; the 2018 side, in Salah’s first World Cup, lost all three group games. A win on Friday would be the first knockout victory in the country’s history, the first of any kind since 1934, and the next line in a 92-year story Egypt are still writing. Egypt’s first World Cup win in 92 years is the chapter that set up Friday’s meeting.
“We look forward to him playing tomorrow,” Hassan said on Thursday. “Not sure though whether he is going to be in the starting lineup.” The decision arrives within hours.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does Egypt play Australia at the 2026 World Cup?
Egypt faces Australia in the round of 32 at Dallas Stadium on Friday, July 3, 2026, with kickoff at 18:00 UTC, 13:00 local time in Dallas, 04:00 on Saturday in Canberra and 21:00 in Cairo. The referee is Gustavo Tejera, per the match centre.
Is Mohamed Salah fit to face Australia?
Salah trained partially on Wednesday and was present for 15 minutes of Thursday’s session that media were allowed to watch, appearing “relatively unencumbered.” Hossam Hassan said on Thursday that a final call would be made “late this morning” on Friday and that he would not play a Salah who was not 100 percent fit.
Who replaces Salah if he does not start?
Omar Marmoush, the Manchester City forward who moved from Eintracht Frankfurt in January 2025, is the most likely starter. He has not scored or assisted at this World Cup and has completed one full 90 minutes, in the opening 1-1 draw with Belgium.
What other injuries does Egypt have for the Australia match?
Left-back Ahmed Fattouh is out with a hamstring tear, defender Mohamed Abdelmonem is being readied after severe ankle bruising, and midfielder Mohanad Lasheen is suspended. The Egyptian FA confirmed Fattouh and Abdelmonem’s conditions in a statement carried by CAF.
What did Tony Popovic say about preparing for Salah?
Popovic told reporters on Thursday that Australia had prepared for both scenarios, with or without Salah. “Yes, we prepared for Mohamed Salah playing,” he said. “We’ve seen when he’s not on the pitch, the players that are in those positions where he may play, so we prepare for both scenarios.”
