Mohamed Salah was careful not to sound too lordly. “I have told this generation before, I am so proud to play alongside you,” he said of his Egypt teammates. “In fact, it’s what I always tell them. I have seen how much they endure.”
At the same time, Salah had an important point to make, looking ahead to Wednesday's semi-final of the Africa Cup of Nations in Tangier. Yes, the squad with whom he has now reached his third semi-final in six attempts to win the Afcon, were exceptional for what he calls their “battling” qualities, for “their heart and soul.”
But they were exceptional, too, in the broader context of the toughest phase of Africa’s most prestigious tournament because, in the vast majority, they play their club football in North Africa and the Middle East.
Salah stressed that to do so does not make a footballer a lesser player, but that Egypt bring a distinct body of collected experience to the last four-stage of an Afcon where the other contenders all benefit from the sport’s prevailing trend.
Namely, that strength is built on the vast wealth channelled into unfettered global recruitment, into state-of-the-art facilities, into coaching and into players’ physical wellbeing by western European clubs.
Take the opponents for Egypt, a Senegal who won Afcon two editions ago – beating Salah’s men on penalties in Cameroon – and who line up with former winners of the Uefa Champions League at the top and the tip of their team: Edu Mendy, an ex-Chelsea goalkeeper; and Sadio Mane, the iconic former striking partner of Salah’s at Liverpool.
And that’s just part of Senegal’s hard currency of European club pedigree. Their coach Pape Thiaw could have chosen, in last Friday’s quarter-final victory over Mali, to leave out of his starting XI forwards from the champion clubs of France and Germany: Nicolas Jackson, on loan at Bayern Munich from Chelsea, went the entire game unused, even though he scored Senegal’s first two goals of this Afcon.
Meanwhile, Ibrahim Mbaye, 17, of Paris Saint-Germain, must wait for his customary role as a substitute to develop into something more substantial, as it will when he matures.
In total, all but four of Senegal’s selected 28 for Afcon are at clubs that play in European leagues; three, including Mendy and Kalidou Koulibay of Al Hilal and Mane, of Al Nassr, are with super-rich Saudi Arabian employers. Just one of the squad, Mamadou Camara, works in Africa, and that’s outside his native Senegal, with CAF Confederation Cup holders RS Berkane of Morocco. And he’s yet to see a minute of action at this Afcon.
Egypt do things differently. “I’ll keep saying it,” Salah continued. “The team playing against you look like they are the favourites when most of their players [are based] abroad. Most of ours are local. Look at the other three teams [in the semis] and where their players are based.”
Look, for instance, at Morocco. They would anticipate a line-up in Rabat for the other semi-final where all 10 outfielders come from top-division clubs in Spain, England, Germany, Italy, France, the Netherlands or Greece. Look at Nigeria, the Afcon hosts’ opponents: Typically, nine in the starting XI are from the English Premier League or Championship, the Spanish Liga, or the Turkish or Greek top flights.
“Our players are very good,” stressed Salah. “But most play in the Egyptian league. The level we play in Egypt and in the African Champions League is different from Uefa Champions League. So it can be a bit harder for us.”
If Salah’s remarks imply that a Egypt triumph in Sunday’s final would represent a victory for African domestic football, he also outlined the pressures many of his teammates face in the intense cauldron of Egyptian club football, scrutinised daily by the vast fanbases of the superclubs of the continent, and indeed of the entire Mena region, like Al Ahly and Zamalek.
Salah, as Egypt’s outstanding sporting star, has learnt to live with his own form of intense focus, albeit that he feels it at a distance, having left Egyptian football young to soar at clubs in Switzerland, Italy and, brilliantly, at Liverpool.
But he sympathises with younger colleagues in the Cairo spotlight. “I feel lucky to have witnessed the generation who have achieved so much and I see what they endure in the era of social media. Things are difficult for them.”
He has seen courage on the pitch, too. In the last three weeks, he has watched Emam Ashour shake off the six months of injury and then illness that disrupted his lead-in to Afcon to produce moments of the vision Al Ahly followers know Ashour is capable of.
Ashour became de luxe supplier to the stars in the 3-2 quarter-final win over Ivory Coast, his passes inviting Omar Marmoush, the Manchester City striker, and Salah to net Egypt’s first and third goals.
It has been a fine tournament for Al Ahly’s Marwan Attia, tireless at the base of midfield for Egypt who have ceded the lion’s share of possession to opponents like Ivory Coast and South Africa for significant periods.
Attia has been decisive at crux times. His thumping long-range shot gave the Pharaohs the lead against a stubborn Benin in the last-16.
A late equaliser then forced the tie into extra-time; Attia’s precise cross, headed in by his club colleague – defender Yasser Ibrahim – allowed Egypt to breathe more easily, Salah adding the third goal in the 124th minute.
Come the tight last-eight contest against the Ivorians, another centre-back Ramy Rabia, one of two Al Ain players – the other is Soufiane Rahimi, of Morocco – aspiring to take part in the Afcon final, reminded there is a set-piece expertise in this Egyptian squad.
While Marmoush and Salah’s accurate delivery of a dead-ball is but one part of their broad portfolios, they need willing warriors, like Rabia, to meet their crosses.
“No one, from the oldest to the youngest, has held back anything,” said Salah, of what, with his four goals in four games so far, he calls “the Afcon that could be the best of my life.”
For that, he credits not just his own form, but the bond he feels with his Egypt-based companions. “The players are close, we like each other, hang out together, laugh together.
"I’ve given my all for my country for 14 years and I can now lend my experience to younger players. I can show them that, if they battle hard, they can achieve this title.”
