YEKATERINBURG, KOMPAS.com - Mohamed Salah akan tampil membela timnas Mesir pada pertandingan pertama Piala Dunia 2018 kontra timnas Uruguay. Hal itu dikatakan pelatih Mesir, Hector Cuper.
"Mohamed Salah dalam kondisi baik dan telah pulih sepenuhnya," kata Hector Cuper dalam jumpa pers jelang pertandingan di Stadion Central, 14 Juni 2018.
"Saya jamin 100 persen Salah akan tampil bersama kami besok, kecuali ada hal tak terduga," tutur pelatih asal Argentina itu.
Baca juga: 5 Kandidat Pemain Muda Terbaik Piala Dunia 2018
Mohamed Salah memang sempat membuat rakyat Mesir khawatir. Dia mengalami cedera dislokasi bahu pada final Liga Champions 2018 ketika membela Liverpool menghadapi Real Madrid.
Namun, kondisi Mohamed Salah berangsur membaik. Pelatih Cuper pun yakin sang pemain sudah pulih dari segi mental untuk membela timnas Mesir.
"Kami mencoba membantunya meningkatkan kepercayaan diri. Kini, dia tak khawatir (untuk bermain)," ujar Cuper.
Laga Mesir vs Uruguay akan dimainkan di Stadion Sentral pada pukul 19.00 WIB. Laga tersebut akan disiarkan langsung di Trans TV.
TEMPO.CO , Moskow - Pelatih Timnas Mesir di Piala Dunia 2018 Hector Cuper memastikan kondisi penyerang andalannya, Mohamed Salah, kini sudah hampir pulih total. Bintang Liverpool itu, kata Cuper, siap diturunkan di laga perdana Mesir di Piala Dunia, yakni menghadapi Uruguay pada Sabtu malam, 16 Juni 2018. BACA JUGA: Mesir Diprediksi Lolos Babak Awal Piala Dunia 2018 "Mo (Salah) dalam kondisi yang sangat baik. Dia pulih dengan sangat, sangat cepat - kami telah menaruh perhatian yang lebih kepadanya," ujar Cuper, Kamis, 14 Juni 2018. "Saya hampir bisa memastikan 100 persen bahwa ia akan bisa bermain pada laga perdana nanti." BACA JUGA: Saksikan Foto Mo Salah Latihan Bersama Tim Mesir di Piala Dunia 2018
Mo Salah, yang telah mencetak 44 gol untuk Liverpool di musim ini, mengalami cedera pada pundaknya usai melakoni pertandingan final Liga Champions kontra Real Madrid pada akhir Mei 2018 lalu. Insiden itu dan cederanya Salah mengakibatkan kecemasan di tubuh Timnas Mesir. BACA JUGA: Mo Salah Bawa Era Baru Sepakbola Mesir di Piala Dunia Kepulihan Salah membuat Cuper dan tim Mesir yakin mereka akan tampil dengan percaya diri pada laga mendatang. Cuper mengatakan bahwa Mo Salah akan bisa tampil semaksimal mungkin. "Kami telah mencoba untuk membuatnya merasa nyaman - meski dokter memberikan pilihan untuk dia bermain atau tidak di laga perdana nanti," kata Cuper. "Tapi saya mengetahui Salah dengan baik, dan saya yakin dia tak akan gentar. Dia bukan sosok yang cengeng." REUTERS
(CNN) For a 100 million Egyptians the wait is over -- and so is the tension over whether the country's most famous star will be ready for the World Cup.
For Egyptians, Mohamed Salah is not just a footballer -- he's a national treasure, an ambassador, and more importantly, a man who carries the hopes of an entire nation.
When Salah sustained a shoulder injury in Liverpool's Champions League final defeat by Real Madrid last month and walked off the field in agony, Egypt football fans feared the worst, even taking to social media to chastise Sergio Ramos, the defender who clashed with their hero.
But those fears were finally allayed Thursday by national team coach Hector Cuper ahead of tomorrow's opener against Uruguay.
"I can almost assure you 100 percent that he will play, save unforeseen circumstances at the very last minute," Cuper told a news conference ahead of Friday's Group A match.
Cuper's words will bring relief to Egyptian football fans who have been desperate for Salah to recover in time.
Salah, who scored 34 Premier League goals, led Liverpool to the Champions League final and guided Egypt to its first World Cup in 28 years, will take it all his stride judging by his past success.
But even for Salah, a man who so often plays with a smile on his face as if he were running around in the schoolyard, the feeling of responsibility is palpable.
Nowhere was that sense of responsibility more evident than in Alexandria last October.
Tied at 1-1 with Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt was awarded a penalty deep into stoppage time at the end of the contest.
Salah, who had already scored earlier in the contest, walked forward to collect the ball and place it on the penalty spot.
With an entire country's hopes upon his shoulders, did he feel at all nervous?
Mohamed Salah has been the standout star of the English Premier League this season.
'100 million people'
"Yes, that was nervy," he says with a smile when he spoke to CNN in April.
"When I got the ball for the penalty I was just focused on the ball, I didn't think about anything else.
"I didn't think about the 28 years of not qualifying, I didn't think about 100 million people, or anyone else.
"I felt the responsibility. You have 100 million people in Egypt relying on you and you're the guy who can make the difference. But that pressure makes me perform better."
Salah stood up and fired the penalty past the goalkeeper, sparking wild scenes of celebration inside the stadium and across all of Egypt.
Egypt's players celebrate wining against their World Cup qualifying match against Democratic Republic of Congo.
In a football-mad country that had not made the World Cup since 1990, this was a moment that so many have dreamed of.
There's even a tribute to him at the prestigious British Museum in London, where his boots are proudly displayed alongside some of Egypt's most precious and famous artifacts.
It's a measure of his global status that a recent picture of Salah walking beside Chechnyan leader Ramzan Kadyrov has become a major talking point at the World Cup.
Kadyrov, leader of Chechnya since 2004, has stifled any form of dissent, subduing the separatist movement that fought the Russian army for nearly two decades.
"Mohamed wasn't aware or involved in any plans to meet with Ramzan Kadyrov,"a source close Salah told CNN. He was simply woken up and asked to go down to meet someone. This was not arranged with Mohamed or his representatives."
On Friday in Ekaterinburg, the capital of the Ural region known for its riches of oil, gas and gold, Egypt will look to its very own treasure to steer the team past Uruguay in its opening game.
Even so Salah believes the game will capture the imagination not just in Egypt, but all of North Africa and the Middle East.
Egypt supporters are hoping Salah can fire their team into the knockout phase.
'They love football'
"Football is the first thing for everyone," Salah said ahead of the country's first World Cup appearance since 1990 and only its second ever.
"They love football. They love sport, but for them, football is number one. You can see that when the Egyptian national team plays any game.
"The Middle East is the same, all of the countries. They love football in Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, everywhere. For us football is something huge that we can't stop talking about or watching."
Egyptians gather at a cafe near a graffiti of Egyptian footballer Mohamed Salah in Cairo.
Salah holds genuine hope of progressing through a group that also includes host nation Russia and Saudi Arabia.
If achieved, it will be the first time in the competition's history that Egypt has managed to make the knockout phase.
"We will qualify," he says confidently. "Of course, you have a difficult group, but we go with the confidence. I'm sure we will qualify.
"If you ask me, I'm sure I'm going to do my best to help the national team and help the country to go through."
It's a bold prediction -- but surely he feels some sense of pressure?
He just smiles. "I don't feel pressure."
Mohamed Salah mengikuti sesi latihan tim nasional Mesir di Rusia menjelang laga melawan Uruguay.
Pemain lini depan tim nasional Mesir, Mohamed Salah "hampir 100%" dimainkan dalam laga Piala Dunia 2018 melawan Uruguay di Yekaterinburg, ungkap pelatih Hector Cuper. Pria berusia 25 tahun itu absen sejak mengalami cedera ligamen bahu ketika memperkuat Liverpool pada pertandingan final Liga Champions, 26 Mei lalu. "Saya bisa menjamin bahwa hampir 100% dia akan bermain, terbebas dari kondisi tak terduga pada menit-menit akhir," kata Cuper, merujuk laga menghadapi Uruguay yang dilangsungkan pada Jumat (15/6) pukul 19.00 WIB. "Dia bisa menjadi pencetak gol terbanyak di sini dan jadi salah satu pemain terhebat," sambungnya. Cuper menjelaskan kondisi salah "sangat baik" dan pulih "sangat, sangat cepat". Dia memaparkan: "Kami mencoba membuatnya merasa percaya diri. Para dokter memberikannya pilihan bermain atau tidak. Tapi saya sangat paham Salah dan saya yakin tidak takut, dia bukan orang yang gentar."
Di lini depan, timnas Uruguay akan mengandalkan Luis Suarez dan Edinson Cavani. Kedua sosok itu total telah menyumbangkan 93 gol bagi Uruguay.
Mohamed Salah, yang akan berulang tahun ke-26 pada laga melawan Uruguay, telah melesakkan lima gol ke gawang lawan pada babak ketiga kualifikasi zona Afrika—melampaui torehan pemain Mesir lainnya. Akan tetapi, Cuper meredam anggapan bahwa timnas Mesir bertumpu pada Salah. "Taktik kami tidak semata-mata berputar di sekitar dia." Selain Salah, pemain bertahan, Ali Gabr, diprediksi akan dimainkan setelah menderita memar pada wajahnya saat berlatih. Sementara itu, pelatih Uruguay, Oscar Tabarez, diperkirakan akan memasang gelandang muda berusia 20 tahun, Rodrigo Bentancur, serta Nahitan Nandez, 22. Di lini depan, Luis Suarez dan Edinson Cavani menanti untuk menggempur gawang Mesir. Kedua sosok itu total telah menyumbangkan 93 gol bagi Uruguay. Mesir dan Uruguay bergabung di Grup A bersama Rusia dan Arab Saudi. Untuk sementara tuan rumah Rusia memuncaki klasemen seusai mencukur Arab Saudi 5-0.
