Captain’s armband and “Body Guard” .. Mohamed Salah raises widespread controversy
Salah was not among the choices of the Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz’s starting lineup in the match, especially since it was a confrontational achievement, before he decided to push him in the 59th minute to improve the situation of the result, which indicated a positive tie with a goal for each team, before contributing to turning the tide of victory. To the Pharaohs with two goals against a goal.
It is worth noting that the two controversial positions are not new to the Egyptian sports street, but this time their appearance was clearer and more prominent in the eyes of everyone, so that opinions were divided between supporters and opponents.
body guard
The beginning was with the appearance of Mohamed Salah between two muscular individuals (body guard) for the purpose of personal protection, inside the match stadium at the Army Stadium in Borg El Arab – Alexandria, while he was warming up, and before leaving the stadium after the referee whistled the end of the match.
The scene, unfamiliar with the Egyptians’ eyes on its stars in the football fields, caused the celebration of qualifying for the final stage of the qualifiers to turn into strong criticism against the star of the Pharaohs and the captain of the national team.
Some asserted that the green rectangle is not a place for personal protection personnel, criticizing the behavior of the Football Association by giving them the shirts of the administrative apparatus of the Egyptian national team and sitting on the bench, in addition to criticizing the behavior of the duo (Body Guard) with everyone, as some pictures showed them being prevented by the general coach of the Pharaohs Diaa El-Sayed from Salah’s handshake after the Angola match.
The Egyptian journalist Ahmed Adel, who is interested in covering the Football Association and the national teams, commented on the presence of the two bodyguards, stressing his complete rejection of the situation, explaining that he was a witness to their dealings with everyone during the Egyptian national team camp in the past few days, which the screens did not broadcast to the public.
And Adel explained in a post on his personal account on the social networking site “Facebook”: “The scene is very difficult, and the tweets have a bad general shape next to Salah, our player is not subject to assassination, everyone loves Mo.”
On the last side, a number of people find that the presence of – Body Guard – accompanied by Salah, even near the green carpet, is a natural result of what was happening in the storming of stadiums and the fans’ attempt to shake hands and kiss the international player, in light of the spread of the Corona virus.
“Salah is a big star, and his English club will not accept the player’s absence for two or three weeks because of the positive smear of Corona, God forbid, if he is infected with the virus as a result of overcrowding,” this is how sports critic Wael Sami began his talk about the presence of guards.
Sami added, in statements to “Sky News Arabia”: “The situation in recent times has become difficult, and we have all seen young people crowding around him after one of the matches, and it is strange that it was without an audience, so what about the return of the fans.”
He continued, “Certainly, the scene is strange to us as Egyptians, as he is the first Arab star to receive this treatment, but it is a normal scene in European stadiums, as we all saw bodyguards accompanied by Argentine Lionel Messi and Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo.”
driving badge
In the midst of the events of the same match, a number of social media pioneers took a picture of the moment when Ahmed Fathi, the 37-year-old, was awarded the captaincy of the Egyptian national team to his colleague Mohamed Salah, after the former expressed strong objection to his relinquishing the captaincy as the oldest player in the current generation, and it spread. The shot went viral and sparked a great deal of controversy among Egyptian football fans.
Although the decision to transfer the emblem to Salah was determined from an earlier time, and he was killed in search of people, Mo’s participation as a substitute, giving him the emblem and appointing him as the captain of the team during the course of the meeting, and in front of the cameras’ lenses had a different effect, and contributed to another split between supporters and opponents.
Ahmed Hossam Mido, Egypt national team striker and former coach of Zamalek, commented on the incident, stressing that Ahmed Fathi, the current Pyramids player, was sheltering in the fans of his former team Al-Ahly Club, noting that he categorically refused to give up the badge during the previous technical staff led by Hossam El-Badry in charge, before To give Salah that badge himself in the match between Egypt and Gabon.
Mido revealed in a post on his official account on the social networking site Twitter: “Mohamed Barakat, the former national team manager, met with Fathi and asked his opinion on the issue of granting the captaincy to Mohamed Salah, and he refused completely, while Wael Gomaa, the current national team manager, put Fathi before the fait accompli and informed him that Salah The captain in the Portuguese Ferman will be Carlos Queiroz, the coach.”
At the same time, some denounced the scene, as Egyptian sports journalist Ramadan Hassan said: “Wouldn’t it have been better for Ahmed Fathi to complete the match with the badge of leadership, away from stardom and agreement, as this player has represented the Egyptian national team since 2003.”
Among the criticism and support for the same position, Salah’s performance as captain of the Egyptian national team won the approval of many, as the journalist Ibrahim Fayek confirmed that the international player began to carry out the tasks and duties of the emblem in the best way.
Fayek wrote in a post on his personal account on the social networking site “Twitter”: “Salah is not angry or irritable, and he began to apply natural pressure on the referee in order to obtain the right of his team, and he talks with his colleagues and advises them, Mohamed Salah, the captain of the Egyptian international team, and knows the value of the leadership badge.” .
It should be noted that the Egyptian team, which is in the second classification of the teams qualified for the final stage of the World Cup qualifiers, is awaiting the draw for the decisive confrontation to seize the ticket to the World Cup against one of the first classification teams, namely Senegal, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Nigeria.
