Entering this World Cup, the fitness of Liverpool and Egypt star Mo Salah was news topic 1A (1b was the Spain manager upheaval and subsequent drama). Obviously, you can interchange both topics as the 1A and 1B of this tournament, as each are huge headline news items.
Salah, who may or may not see his first action of this World Cup in about 90 minutes or so, has found an unlikely supporter in the man who managed him (albeit briefly) at Chelsea. Jose Mourinho, now leading Manchester United, praised Salah as one of the fastest footballers in the entire world.
Mourinho while continuing his gig as a World Cup analyst for the Kremlin network Russia Today, offered this bit of punditry in regards to the PFA and Premier League player of the year.
“Egypt has, I don’t want to say the fastest, but I have to say, one of the fastest players in the world,” transcription courtesy of the Liverpool Echo.
“With the ball, without the ball, he can dribble, he can attack spaces behind defenders. Because of this, I think Russia have to drop the block back.
“They have to react better when they lose the ball because they conceded a little bit against a very naïve team, a team without any physical power and Egypt can hurt them.”
When game recognizes game, it cuts across all divisions of rivalry, including one as bitter and strong as Manchester United-Liverpool.
Entering the Pharaohs 1-0 loss to Uruguay in the tournament opener, Egypt manager Hector Cup said that Mo Salah was 100% going to play. Obviously, it didn’t happen, but we’ll see against Russia in a matter of minutes. The host country enters on the heels of a 5-0 shellacking over Saudi Arabia; a tremendous result that ended a very long losing streak.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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