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When asked in an interview about the toughest moment of his career, without a second of hesitation, Cristiano Ronaldo said it was losing the Euro 2004 final vs Greece. Portugal’s lineup included so many stars and legends like Rui Costa, Figo, Ronaldo, and Deco, and so the final was against a team well within Portugal’s control. So when Portugal lost 0-1, a 19 year old Ronaldo cried, not just because of the clear chance he missed during the game, but because of the great heartbreak of losing to Greece at home.
Fast forward 12 years later, another near heartbreak in the Euro 2016 final vs France, when in only the eighth minute, Payet put in a very strong tackle on Ronaldo. He was clearly in pain, yet tried and tried to play on. But when he just couldn’t take it anymore, he was taken off the pitch on a stretcher, once again, with tears in his eyes. Now Ronaldo didn’t become one of the greatest ever footballers for nothing. With a huge bandage to his knee, his role in motivating the team, alongside the coach in the last minutes of the final, played an essential part in helping Portugal defeat France in Paris and become European Champions.
But Ronaldo’s main rival ALSO had to play with Argentina through so much pain. After losing a World Cup final in 2014 and 3 Copa America Finals, it was now or never for Lionel Messi. With a bleeding ankle, he played the 2021 Copa America semifinal vs Colombia. And in a World Cup semifinal, he played the entire second half, with an injured hamstring, and that didn’t stop him from humiliating Gvardiol of Croatia, one of the current best defenders in the world. And because fortune favors the brave, Lionel Messi one both the 2021 Copa America and the 2022 World Cup.
So when in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, Mo Salah left the Egyptian National team, mid tournament, to fly back to Liverpool from the Ivory Coast to treat a strain in the posterior muscle, it was shocking. Egypt’s first two group stage games ended in a draw, and so the team desperately needed him to hold on to their slim chances of qualifying to the knockout stages. And because he was awful in those first two games, everybody was waiting for a Mo Salah comeback that wouldn’t just help Egypt qualify, but even play good football that goes with the team that holds the record number of 7 AFCON titles.
Mo Salah isn’t just one of the best players in the world right now, but he’s in one of the best forms of his life. And so expecting him to carry Egypt didn’t seem to be asking too much of him. Messi and Ronaldo have done it with Argentina and Portugal, and Mo Salah himself has done it with Liverpool time and again, so what seemed to be the problem with Egypt? Are his Egyptian teammates not good enough? Are they not helping him? But again, the competition itself isn’t good enough. Because with all due respect, a team like Mozambique shouldn’t be that hard to defeat.
But even if he can’t win or can’t even play, should the star of the team just leave like that? Shouldn’t he be present, even if on the sidelines, to give the team that motivational boost they so urgently need? Can’t he get the treatment he needs with the Egyptian team? Is there no doctor to treat him there? And is it really appropriate for him to rejoin the Egyptian team in case they make it to the final? Won’t it seem like he’s taking advantage of his teammates’ hard work?