Mohamed Salah has stated Egypt’s ambition to make history at the 2018 World Cup.
The Pharaohs will be making their first appearance in the quadrennial tournament in 28 years despite their dominance in Africa.
Hector Cuper’s men have been paired in Group A with hosts Russia, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay, and the Liverpool goal poacher has disclosed the team's desire to make a remarkable statement in Russia.
“It’s the first time in 28 years that we qualified. It was not normal because we won the African Cup seven times, and we were champions in 2006, 2008 and 2010,” Salah told Marca.
“It was common to win the African Cup, but we didn’t qualify for the World Cup.
“And it was something we all said: ‘wow, we have to do it, we have to do it.’ We had not achieved it for a long time and it was something very special. Maybe like for Spain to win the World Cup.
“The pressure was to qualify for the World Cup. Of course, someone can now say ‘ok, we’ve qualified, that’s it’. But for me it’s not like that, we want to make history, achieve something different.
“In my head the pressure is to achieve something different from what we have done. Not just going there, three games and thank you very much. That doesn’t go through my head.”
By Gbenga Adewoye
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