The flying Pharaoh

very special.

One of the tragedies of covering national team assignments is that it turns us into robots, who have to see things one dimensional, with all the emphasis on our boys – their strengths and their weaknesses, their joy and their sorrow, their tears and their fears.

The opponents become a sideshow, rather than a central part of the act, and all the focus is on what our boys have done right, or possibly wrong, with very little space given on what the opponents have done right.

So, as we digested the events of the Warriors’ comprehensive 2-4 defeat at the hands of the Pharaohs on Sunday, our first home loss in nine years and our biggest hammering, in terms of goals conceded, at home in history, all the focus, inevitably, fell on our boys.

How could they play so poorly in defence, how could they concede so many goals, how could they be torn apart so easily by their opponents, how could the midfield fail to click and why our strikeforce remains Knowledge Musona and no one else?

Amid all those questions we forgot to appreciate the simple fact that a special footballer had come into our arena and turned on a show, so beautiful it deserved headlines on its own, and played a huge part in our defeat.

Mohamed Salah does not turn 22 until Saturday but this Egyptian genius is already playing football at a level, so high, he could turn into one of the biggest stars of the game in the world in the coming few years.

Not since a 20-year-old Aboubacar “Titi” Camara came to the National Sports Stadium, exactly 20 years ago, and paraded his full range of skills for Guinea in a World Cup qualifier, has one visiting young forward left such a huge impression.

Camara justified all the hype that was surrounding him then as he went on to play for French giants Marseille and Liverpool in a very successful career.

On Sunday, the giant stadium played host to the Mohamed Salah show as the Egyptian forward became the first visiting player to score a hattrick, in a World Cup tie, in Zimbabwe.

His first goal, after 40 minutes, might have been helped by a blunder from the home defence but he deserves credit for his anticipation that suddenly saw him in acres of space, his first touch as the move drifted to an angle was world-class and his finish, past the diving Washington Arubi, was top-drawer stuff.

His second goal, in the 68th minute, might also have been a result of a gift, after substitute Denver Mukamba was caught in possession, with fatal consequences, trying to do some schoolboy tricks of rolling the ball between the legs of his marker.

But the way Salah took his chance was special.

The first touch, at pace, freed him into an area that he likes to operate in and then a sudden twist of that little frame cleared his marker but as he stormed into the penalty area, he still had to shake off Lincoln Zvasiya.

How he did it was impressive, using his deft touch to just give the ball a little more pace which nullified the tackle but even though he was now clear on goal, it was an angle and Arubi was closing in to cover.

But the Zimbabwe captain had no chance as the ball was flicked past him, with both authority and pace, and as it nestled into the far corner, there was no questioning it was a special one and we were witnessing a genius at work.

It was like seeing Lionel Messi making one of his trademark runs and finish, the way he took that second goal, and the quality was written all over it.

Salah duly completed his hattrick, with another good goal, and in the fury of our huge defeat we forgot about this little maestro and the damage he had inflicted on us.

Now that the dust is beginning to settle, we can start some of the things that were hidden away from us in our moment of confusion as we digested the painful reality of that hammering at the hands of the Pharaohs.

Maybe, our defensive boys, whom we took turns to tear apart for opening that highway for the four goals were not as horrible as we painted them because, when we closely look at the picture, they played against a top-class star at the height of his athletic powers.

Maybe, this wasn’t all about Felix Chindungwe being jittery but about Salah being unplayable and we could have picked any of our best defenders and, at that level of performance, all of them would have looked very ordinary against this Egyptian star.

Those who have been quick to heap blame on Chindungwe have to be reminded that he was pulled out when we had conceded two goals and, without him, we still conceded another two goals.

Maybe, this wasn’t all about Zvasiya looking out of sorts, for the better part of that first half, but about Salah being unstoppable.

And we could have picked any of our best defenders and, at that level of performance, all of them would have looked pedestrian against this Egyptian maestro.

Maybe, this wasn’t about Ocean Mushure finding himself out of position, when it came to our defensive lines, but about Salah finding the right moments to see the pockets of space.

And we could have picked anyone else and he would have been exposed, in the same way or even worse, by this rising Pharaoh.

Salah is one of the rising football stars in the world and that is why English giants, Tottenham Hotspur, have been tracking his movements and had a scout at the National Sports Stadium just to keep track on his performance and are prepared to pay £10 million for him.

He was one of the star players who helped Swiss side, FC Basel, reach the semi-finals of last season’s Uefa Europa League, knocking out Spurs in the process with Salah scoring one of the goals in the quarter-finals.

But they met their match in the semi-finals against Chelsea and were beaten 2-5 on aggregate but not before giving the London side, who held a 2-1 lead from Switzerland, a scare in the first half at Stamford Bridge when Salah scored to make it 2-1 and tie the scores.

The Egyptian winger has also been impressive in this World Cup campaign and scored the dramatic winner, in the 93rd minute, for a 3-2 victory over Guinea in Conakry before winning the penalty, with two minutes to play, against Zimbabwe in Alexandria.

Ahmed Shboer, the Egyptian ‘keeper during the 1990 World Cup, told SuperSport yesterday that although his team won against Zimbabwe, they did not impress him as a unit and Salah was the man who made the difference.

“We won the match but we had a lot of problems with our defense and we have to fix this before we meet Mozambique and Guinea,” he said.

“If we didn’t have Mohammed Salah and Mohammed Aboutrika I think we would be in dire straits.”
Last year he was honoured as the best rising young African football talent by Caf.

On the basis of what we saw on Sunday, those who voted were right.

There were some damning statistics for the Warriors as they were the host team that leaked the most goals, in all the matches played in Africa, at the weekend.

Zimbabwe were one of seven host nations to lose and we are now only one of nine countries yet to win a game after four rounds.

We are also one of seven nations to lose three games and our plight can be put into context by the fact that Lesotho, with two points after four games, are in a better position than us at this stage of the World Cup qualifiers.