Saudi Shocker as Late Winner Drops Salah's Egypt

What better way to spend a day in Volgograd than to take in the mandatory match between Egypt and Saudi Arabia?

All that was on the line was pride.

And maybe a manager's job. Looking at you, Hector Cuper, as if you don't have enough to do.

Dude's now got even more than anticiapted before the day started, actually. With two late goals, the Saudis stunned Mohamed Salah and Egypt, 2-1.

 

If there was any silver lining, their veteran 'keeper -- Essam El Hadary -- is now the oldest player to appear in a World Cup match.

He's 45 and likely hoping Bartolo Colón doesn't change sports.

Dude's still got it.

So does the Premiership's record-breaking goal scorer. In the 22nd minute, Salah collected a pass, sprinted, and beat the Saudi keeper with a decent touch:

This was his 50th goal in 57 games both for his club and country in the 2017-2018 season.

 

Five minutes prior to the break, Saudi was awarded a penalty, but El Hadary saved Fahad Al-Muwallad's attempt.

Maybe that gave the Pharoah backs a false sense of security, because one minute later, the Saudis were back.

This one was VAR- approved, and this time, El Hadary could do nothing after a perfect finish from Salman Al-Faraj:

Saudi Arabia was always closer to the second goal in the second half, but nothing found the mark until injury time. Russian World Cup injury time, which must have a zone of its own by now.

Then, in the 95th minute, after they'd launched an earlier assault on goal, Salem Al-Dawsari twined a classy low volley from close-range:

It was the first win for Saudi Arabia since 1994.

Still, both sides have lotsa work to do if they want to return to the next Cup final in 2022 and be competitive. If FIFA does expand the field to 48 at that time, the returning part might not be all that difficult.

But competitive? Whoa.