Mohamed Salah's previous World Cup was a waking nightmare - now Egypt's poster boy needs to deliver when it matters most

Salah would have been coming into the 2018 World Cup in the form of his life, having delivered 60 goal contributions in a sublime debut season for Liverpool, but his very involvement was thrown into doubt by an infamous foul in the Champions League final.

Jurgen Klopp's side faced Real Madrid in the showpiece in Kyiv, and with just half an hour on the clock, Salah was forced off after tangling with the notoriously aggressive Sergio Ramos, who appeared to haul him to the ground by his arm. Los Blancos would, of course, go on to win the game 3-1 courtesy of Loris Karius' two horrific errors and a Gareth Bale wonder-goal.

With just 20 days to go until Egypt were due to get their World Cup campaign underway in Russia, scans revealed that Salah, then 25, had sprained ligaments in his shoulder. However, he tweeted a day later that he was "confident" he would be fit in time.

"It was a very tough night, but I'm a fighter," he wrote. "Despite the odds, I'm confident that I'll be in Russia to make you all proud. Your love and support will give me the strength I need."

Meanwhile, the Egyptian FA set his recovery timeline at three weeks and he was named in their World Cup squad, although he was given extra time to recover before joining their camp.

That timeline proved to be accurate, as then-head coach Hector Cuper decided not to risk Salah in Egypt's group opener against Uruguay. The winger was named among the substitutes but didn't get onto the pitch, despite the manager telling reporters in the lead-up to the game that he could "almost 100 percent assure" the media that he would feature.

Consequently, the Pharaohs' talisman could only watch on as his country suffered an agonising late 1-0 defeat courtesy of Jose Maria Gimenez's last-minute winner. Cuper had clearly been hoping to snatch a point without Salah, making his third and final substitution in the 82nd minute, but his side lacked a cutting edge without the Liverpool star. His plan failed at the death, and that would prove costly.

"Mo Salah is an important player for us but you need to have a good team, and we have a good team," Cuper said afterwards. "Salah will have an important role for us in the future matches. We wanted to avoid risks in this match [with Salah], but I think he will be fine for the next game."

Sure enough, Salah was in the starting line-up for the clash with host nation Russia four days later, but he was unable to singlehandedly change his country's fortunes despite picking up his customary goal. Egypt were already 3-0 down when he converted a consolation penalty with a little over a quarter of an hour to play, and they would be out of the World Cup by the time they next took to the pitch.

There were already murmurs of internal tensions at that point, which Salah was forced to deny. "Everyone in Egypt is together and there is absolutely no conflicts between us," Salah wrote on social media. "We respect each other and the relationship is best."

Uruguay's 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia the following day meant the Pharoahs had been dumped from the tournament before the third and final matchday in the group stage as the South Americans joined the hosts in the last 16, but their humiliation wasn't yet complete.

Despite being favourites in the dead rubber against the Saudis in their last game, Egypt fell to another painful late defeat. Salah scored his second in as many games with a measured lob to open the scoring in the first period, but after he had spurned a glaring one-v-one opportunity, his side imploded - conceding an equaliser from the spot in first-half stoppage time before their rivals snatched the win in the 95th minute.

The result meant Egypt remarkably remained winless in their three World Cup appearances (1934, 1990 and 2018), with a record of two draws and five defeats, and they would pass up the opportunity to rectify that in 2022 as they failed to qualify for the tournament in Qatar.

The fallout of Egypt's dismal failure at the 2018 World Cup was monumental, as a bitter feud developed between the country's FA and their talisman that would unfold in the public domain.

Salah accused the governing body of disrupting the team's preparations at the tournament by allowing celebrities and media personalities into their hotel at all hours, after the EFA had leaked a list of demands he had made that included increased personal security and regulation of his public appearances and photo opportunities.

When Egypt had arrived at their training base in Grozny, Chechnya, Salah was seemingly also roped into an awkward meet and greet with the region's leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who is notorious for human rights abuses, including the persecution of the LGBTQ+ community.

There was also criticism of the decision to base the team in Grozny in the far south of Russia, with Egypt having to travel further than any other nation at the tournament (5,288 miles in total) for matches in Yekaterinburg, Saint Petersburg and Volgograd, and allegedly doing so in economy class.

The tension between Salah and the EFA actually dated back to before the World Cup, when the attacker reacted angrily to the football association using an unauthorised image of him on the team plane alongside a rival sponsor, something he described as "a major insult".

GOAL reported at the time that all of this had made Salah consider his international future at the age of 25, in the belief that he had been used as 'political capital'.

In a series of videos posted on Facebook six weeks after the World Cup had ended, Salah vented his anger. "I asked for increased security for all players, not only for me," he explained. "We had many disturbances at the team's camp during our participation at the World Cup in Russia. I couldn't go to the restaurant twice during the tournament as they told me you won't be able to go there for your own safety due to the crowd inside the hotel."

He continued: "Also they [the EFA] said that nobody knocked my room door at 4am to take pictures with me, anyone is free to ask the hotel or the [other] players. I don't think there are any players [that would accept] anyone to bring someone to come to my room, to take photos with me, to talk with me, I'm not being anal. I'm a player…how can other people just come and sit with me in my hotel room? I am being negatively impacted by this.

"Abroad, they give me this [protection] without me even asking for it. In Egypt, when I ask for it, there isn't even a response…you have all the capability to do these things, not for me as Salah, but for the entire team…it allows the player to concentrate on the match.

"They make us travel in economy class, which is exhausting for every player; all the other African teams fly in business class. The players need to be going [to the match] comfortable...I don't understand. The players aren't comfortable…I don't want to sit business while the others sit in economy. I want this for all the players."

He added: "You tried, in your press conference, to say everything and make it seem like I hate my country. Thank God, the people know otherwise."

The dust would eventually settle on Egypt's nightmarish 2018 World Cup experience and Salah would ultimately continue to represent his country despite his outspoken condemnation of the FA, with changes at the highest level of the governing body helping to smooth a gradual reconciliation.

However, in the years since, the Pharaohs have largely been in the international football wilderness; their 2019 Africa Cup of Nations campaign was another disaster as they were dumped out by South Africa in the last 16, and although they would reach the final of the 2021 edition, they would suffer heartbreak in the final by losing on penalties to Senegal in early 2022. Salah wouldn't even get the chance to take a spot-kick, having decided to step up fifth.

History would repeat itself the very next month as a 2022 World Cup qualification play-off against the same opponent also went the distance, with Salah this time going first in the shootout but skying his effort as multiple lasers were beamed on his face by the home crowd. Senegal would prevail once again, denying the Liverpool man the chance to redress the debacle of 2018.

In 2026, though, Egypt are finally back on the biggest stage for just the second time since 1990. Salah, of course, played a key role in getting them there, scoring nine times as the Pharoah's crucially topped their qualifying group to secure automatic progress to the tournament proper.

They have a serious chance of making history, too, by both winning their first-ever World Cup match and progressing through the first phase, having been drawn alongside Belgium, Iran and New Zealand, with the latter the lowest-ranked team at the tournament. The expanded 48-nation format means they are well placed to reach the last 32 at the very least.

While, realistically, it won't be about winning it, at 33, Salah will be acutely aware that this his last chance of breaking new ground with his country in world football's main event, and he seems laser-focused on achieving the feat of reaching the knockout stages.

"We want to make the Egyptian people happy, and we will do our utmost to achieve that," he told Sky Sports. "We know that the group is very strong, and every team has its chances and opportunity to compete, so we have to give our best in every match."

The winger added: "Our ambition at this World Cup is to push further than this country has ever gone before in the tournament."

Salah has earned this last World Cup chance in what could well be his last dance for Egypt. He will be determined to take it.