& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

TRYST with TELSTAR

'King of Egypt', GOODBYE

Syed Ashfaqul Haque
With hands on hips, shoulders slightly slumped, eyes wide shut, he looked into an emptiness from the middle of the stadium. As if time just froze with the long whistle from the referee. And the king was just defeated.
His silent dejection amid Russia's raucous celebration told it all. Affectionately called King of Egypt, Mohamed Salah could not live up to the expectations of 100 million people back home. He was instrumental in Egypt's qualification to the World Cup after 30 years, but was not fit enough to fight it out in the finals. Rank outsiders Russia conquered the Pharaohs 3-1, and are through to the round of 16 from Group A, which also includes Uruguay and Saudi Arabia. With Uruguay's 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia yesterday, they advanced into the next phase alongside the hosts.
It was also the first match in this World Cup that sealed goodbye to the world's most talked-about footballer at the moment. The last group league match against Saudi Arabia will just be
the Champions League final.
The whole of Egypt was praying as Salah raced against time to recover in three weeks. He missed team trainings, sat out the first match against Uruguay and was not irresistible enough against the hosts. Ramos will certainly be cursed.
The Egyptian heartbreak apart, two other games on Tuesday brought big cheers for Asia and Africa for the first time in the tournament! And it all happened Tuesday in Group H of the World Cup.
Japan caused a major upset when they beat Colombia 2-1. However, Colombia's defender Carlos Sanchez probably sealed the fate of his country when he deliberately and absolutely unnecessarily hand-balled an incoming shot only minutes into the match.
a formality for the 25-year-old genius, whose name is now being mentioned in the same breath as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. He became the livewire for Liverpool soon after joining last season, scoring an astonishing 44 goals in the 2017-18 season.
Salah was expected to be one of this World Cup's biggest stars as he already bagged three prestigious awards -Africa's top footballer, the Premier League's Players' Player of the Year and England's Football Writer's Association's Player of the Year. So, this early exit hurts. And, for sure, Sergio Ramos of Real Madrid will be blamed for this debacle. Ramos became Egypt's enemy number one when the Real Madrid captain played a big part in getting his left shoulder injured during
Despite the presence of stars like James Rodriguez, who came off the bench, and Radamel Falcao, Colombia could not recover from a penalty and red card. Japan dominated the 10-man Colombia to become the first Asian country to beat a Latin football power.
Senegal, on the other hand, revived the African magic that football buffs first witnessed 16 years back with the rise of Cameroon. Senegal played power football throughout the match to beat Poland 2-1.
We will have to wait for a few matches more to confirm whether teams representing Asia and Africa build on their success and move to the next phase.
The writer is former Sports Editor of The Daily Star