Salah's last chance for redemption at FIFA World Cup 2026

Mohamed Salah is probably playing in his last World Cup for Egypt. With him leading the charge, this looks Egypt’s best chance to break the glass ceiling.Egypt has qualified for the World Cup four times, first being in 1934. They became the first Arab nation to achieve the feat. After that, there was a long wait of 56years for their second appearance at the soccer spectacle.

They kept on trying and failing years after years but never gave up the hopes of playing at the world stage again. They failed to advance to the second stage but earned a lot of praise for their performance. They managed to eke out two draws against the mighty Netherlands (1-1) and Ireland (0-0) before falling to a narrow defeat against England.The second heartbreak left the team devastated but paved the way to return to the world stage in future.

The two draws against the much-fancied opponents in the World Cup gave them the confidence to compete at the highest level.Again,there was a long pause of 28 years, exactly half of their previous wait. This time around, they made it to the finals again in the 2018 World Cup.

Despite Salah scoring twice in the World Cup, their campaign ended in the group stage once again following their losses in all three games. They failed to procure a single point.

Salah failed to leave a mark on his World Cup debut.He kept on shining in club football. He scaled new heights with Liverpool and went onto become their third leading scorer of all time behind Ian Rush (386) and Roger Hunt (285). Salah once again failed to take Egypt to the finals in 2022 in Qatar. But his journey in the Premier League kept him in the limelight. He was also nominated for the Balon d’Or.

Any player’s career is not considered as great without him doing something for the national team, which can aspire the next generation of players in his country.

A career,which can give hopes to his country of dreaming big. And this chance came for Salah in 2026.

Salah scored the lone goal of the match against Scotland after Egypt held Belgium to a draw. With four points in two games, Egypt are still unbeaten and look set to break the glass ceiling of not advancing to the next round.

If they can move to the next round, it will be their best run-up at soccer extravaganza and Salah may retire with a consolation of steering his team to the second stage.