Mohamed Salah reflects on 'historic' Egyptian World Cup win via controversial penalty shootout
· Yahoo Sports
Egypt have advanced to the FIFA World Cup Round of 16 after clinching a 4-3 penalty shootout triumph in Dallas.
Australia made the audacious decision to swap their goalkeeper at the 120-minute mark, bringing on former Arsenal stopper Mat Ryan to replace Patrick Beach, who had delivered an outstanding performance throughout the game.
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The gamble failed to pay dividends as Harry Souttar blazed his effort over the crossbar from the opening spot kick, and youngster Lucas Herrington rattled the woodwork — meaning Egypt required just four of their five attempts, converting every single one.
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Mohamed Salah stepped up and coolly dispatched a panenka before Hossam Abdelmaguid sent Ryan the wrong way to seal the deal for the Pharaohs, as per The Mirror.
Salah reflected on the triumph, saying: "It's history. I told the boys before the game that this is the biggest stage you can play on. Enjoy it and don't let the pressure get to you. I'm glad that we managed to in the game, bad luck for them. I'm happy that we wrote history today."
The ex-Liverpool forward, who has yet to announce his next destination, revealed that his audacious spot kick was driven by a desire to galvanize his teammates. "If somebody was going to do it, it would be me!" he said.
"I am more experienced than others and I wanted to give them confidence. I decided last minute, I had to do it."
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Emam Ashour fired the Egyptians in front after just 13 minutes, and they carried that advantage into halftime, before the Australians drew level on 55 minutes through a Mohamed Hany own goal - and that was how it remained for over an hour, with penalties ultimately settling the tie.
Neither nation had previously won a World Cup knockout game, with the Egyptians celebrating their historic milestone.
In fact, Egypt had gone without a World Cup victory since their maiden appearance in 1934 prior to this tournament - but now advance to the Round of 16 with two wins to their name this summer, where they are expected to meet Argentina, who are heavy favorites to eliminate Cape Verde.