Based on the current form of Liverpool forward, Mohamed Salah, the Egyptian is the last person one would suspect could miss a penalty. He is not just the penalty taker of the Egypt national team, he is the official penalty taker at Liverpool.
Though no matter how perfect a player is in terms of playing spot-kicks, such a player might not always get it right. But not in the night in which the whole of Egypt was on the shoulder of Mohamed Salah. Yet, the Egyptian talisman could not help but play the ball into the sky.
The first leg of the FIFA World Cup play-off which took place in Cairo on March 25 and ended 1-0 in favor of Egypt gave the Egyptian team an edge ahead of the second leg.
But in the second leg of the tie, it was Senegal that was more motivated to get the win especially after they got the early lead in the 4th minute.
At the end of the regular time and extra time, the game ended 1-0 in favor of Senegal which made it 1-1 on aggregate.
Hence, Senegal and Egypt were condemned to play penalty shootouts to decide the winner of the tie. The hosts missed two out of five while the visitors missed three including Mohamed Salah.
Based on his current form, Mohamed Salah ought to have scored his spot-kick but immediately he stood in front of the ball to take his kick, Senegalese supporters shone lasers on his face to put him off while trying to score the spot-kick.
Unfortunately, the light on Mohamed Salah’s face was enough to confuse or irritate him to the extent of playing the ball into the sky. Afterward, his teammate at Liverpool stepped up to score the decisive goal that sent the reigning African champions straight to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Aside from the laser light on the face of Mohemed Salah, the Senegalese supporters allegedly committed other offenses
After Egypt’s hope of playing in the 2022 FIFA World Cup was cut short, the Egyptian FA took to social media to reveal the number of discrimination the Egyptian players suffered in Dakar, Senegal.
According to the statement, Senegalese supporters stoned the buses that convey Egyptian players and coaching crew from the airport to their hotel.
The fans who made it into the stadium ahead of the match also threw objects at the Egyptian players when they were warming up ahead of the match.
A statement from the Egyptian FA read: “The Egypt national team have been exposed to racism with offensive signs in the stands against the Egyptian players in general, and Mohamed Salah in particular.
“The crowd also intimidated the players by throwing bottles and rocks at them during the warm-up.
“The Egyptian group’s busses have also been exposed to assaults that led to broken windows and injuries; filed with pictures and videos as proof in the complaint submitted.”
At the time of publishing this report, the world football governing body, FIFA, and the Africa football governing body, CAF, were yet to issue an official reaction to the complaint from the Egyptian FA.
I mean, just look at this. Salah sails his penalty over… and surely anybody would, given the lasers.
— Henry Bushnell (@HenryBushnell) March 29, 2022
Mane scores, Senegal wins the shootout, Egypt out of the World Cup pic.twitter.com/tgHmCmW8uu
