Live: Socceroos unchanged, Salah starts in historic clash

The Socceroos take on Egypt in Dallas, with a spot in the last 16 of the FIFA World Cup up for grabs.

Follow all the action in our live blog.

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Sat 4 Jul 2026 at 2:59am

Sat 4 Jul 2026 at 2:59am

Salah starts for Egypt

No need to wait too long, the teams have dropped and Mo Salah is named in the starting line up for the Egyptians.

Salah had been a doubt this week although he did start to be a part of training in the last day or so.

There have been several other changes for Egypt though.

Omar Marmoush comes back into the starting lineup, alongside Salah with Mahmoud Trézéguet dropped to the bench.

Two big defensive outs for Egypt prompts a bit of a change there through, with left back Ahmed Fatouh and central defender Mohamed Abdelmonem both suffering injuries.

Karim Hafez and Yasser Ibrahim, who came on after just 13 minutes against Iran, will take their places.

Hamdy Fathy has recovered from an injury he suffered though and will sit in front of the back four.

Marawan Attia comes into the midfield as the last of the five changes from the team that drew with Iran 1-1.

Sat 4 Jul 2026 at 2:52am

Sat 4 Jul 2026 at 2:52am

Mo Salah's hamstring

By Simon Smale

- with Reuters

Few men carry as heavy a weight at this World Cup than Mo Salah.

The attention on his hamstring has been all-encompassing since he went off in Egypt's 1-1 draw with Iran.

Egypt coach Hossam Hassan was uncertain right up until yesterday whether Salah would start

Salah returned to partial training on Wednesday.

"Salah is a passionate player and he is very much looking forward to making his own contribution," Hassan said.

"I'm not going to run any risk unless I'm 100 percent sure he is fit and raring to go tomorrow.

"We look forward to him playing tomorrow, but we're not sure if he's going to be in the starting lineup."

He asked to be substituted with 33 minutes remaining against the Iranians and his battle to be fit has overshadowed his team's preparations for one of the biggest games in their history.

"He is one of the best players globally and I'm very lucky to work with him and I'm very happy with our work together so far," said Hassan.

"I have managed to deploy him tactically and technically speaking and he has surpassed the capabilities that people had expected of him so far."

As for the Socceroos, they expect Salah to play.

"We have prepared for Mohamed Salah playing," Tony Popovic said.

"We've seen when he's not on the pitch the players that are in those positions where he may play. So we've prepared for both scenarios and we'll see tomorrow."

Sat 4 Jul 2026 at 2:50am

Sat 4 Jul 2026 at 2:50am

Morning Socceroos fans

By Simon Smale

Hello folks and welcome to the ABC Sport coverage of what we all hope will be a historic World Cup day for the Socceroos.

My name is Simon Smale and I am here to guide you through the last 32 clash between the Socceroos and Egypt.

Fans are already streaming into the fan zone down in front of the ABC building in Brisbane and no doubt similar scenes are being repeated all over the country for what could be a monumental occasion.

So settle yourselves in, team news coming up very soon.