Mohamed Salah becomes Egypt's all-time leading goalscorer

Mohamed Salah became Egypt’s all-time leading goalscorer after scoring twice in a commanding 5-0 victory over Malawi in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier on Saturday, reaching the landmark of 70 international goals with a Panenka penalty in stoppage time.

The 34-year-old forward, who plays for Turkish club Trabzonspor, initially equalled the national record held by former striker Hossam Hassan with a header in the 84th minute before taking his tally to 70 with a composed chip down the middle from the penalty spot after Malawi’s goalkeeper fouled Hamza Abdelkarim.

Salah, who made his international debut in 2011, now has 70 goals in 123 appearances for Egypt, establishing himself as the country’s outright leading international goalscorer.

Egypt made a flying start at Cairo International Stadium, taking the lead through Nasser Maher, who converted a low cross from Mohamed Hany for his first international goal. Omar Marmoush doubled the advantage in the 10th minute after capitalising on a defensive error from Malawi.

Egypt continued to dominate proceedings, with Hany making it 3-0 shortly before half-time through a spectacular long-range effort, also his first goal for the national team.

Malawi had an opportunity to reduce the deficit midway through the first half, but goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir denied forward Richard Mbulu with a fine save.

Salah had missed a one-on-one opportunity in the 71st minute before eventually getting on the scoresheet with a header from an Ibrahim Adel cross in the 84th minute to equal the record.

The result also marked a winning start for new Egypt head coach Ali Maher, who was appointed on November 7 following the departure of Hassan. Maher took charge of his first match with an attacking combination featuring Salah, Marmoush and Mahmoud Trezeguet.

Salah’s record-breaking performance comes amid an impressive start to his club campaign at Trabzonspor, where he has scored nine goals in 11 league appearances.

During his nine-year spell at Liverpool, the Egyptian became the club’s leading Premier League goalscorer with 191 goals and registered a record 277 goal contributions for a single club in the competition.

Context from the qualifiers

The victory put Egypt top of Group B in the AFCON 2027 qualifiers, which marks the halfway stage of the group campaign.

Tunisia’s dismal run continued with a 2-0 home defeat by Libya in Sfax, leaving Tunisia with two points and in danger of missing next year’s finals, which would end its record run of 17 successive appearances.

Cape Verde bounced back with a 4-2 home triumph over Liberia after losing its opening qualifiers in September. Nigeria made multiple changes after a 0-3 loss to Guinea Bissau two months ago and bounced back with Tolu Arokodare scoring twice in a 3-1 win over Tanzania.

Defender Jean Girumugisha scored seven minutes from time for Burundi to draw 1-1 away at Zambia, while Kenya held South Africa 2-2 in Johannesburg.

Mali came from behind to beat Rwanda 3-2 in Bamako and win a third match in Group K, moving within one win of a place in the finals.

Achraf Hakimi scored twice as Morocco beat Niger 5-1 in Casablanca to maintain its perfect start in Group A.

What happens next

Egypt will face Malawi again on Tuesday. There are three more matches on Saturday to complete the third round of the group qualifiers. The fourth round of group fixtures is on Monday and Tuesday, and the last two rounds are in March. The 2027 finals are to be co-hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda from June 19 to July 17.

Key figures from Egypt's 5-0 win over Malawi

Sources

• Times of India

• sportstar.thehindu.com