The Socceroos are set to face Mo Salah in their last 32 match, though uncertainty hangs over whether the Egypt great will start the World Cup knockout in Dallas or come off the bench.
Salah was seen training with his teammates on Thursday and Egypt coach Hossam Hassan confirmed his “passionate” forward was fit enough to play.
“We look forward to him playing tomorrow, though we are not sure whether he is going to be in the starting lineup,” Hassan said, confirming the player himself was keen to play.
“[Salah] is looking forward to making his own contributions with his teammates tomorrow,” he said.
Australia coach Tony Popovic said his team will be prepared whether Salah is on the pitch or not.
“We have prepared for Salah playing, we’ve seen when he’s not on the pitch the players in those positions where he may play,” he said. “So we’ve prepared for both scenarios and we’ll see tomorrow.”
The coach was asked repeatedly in his pre-match press conference about how his side could handle the tall, physical Australian side captained by 1.98-metre defender Harry Souttar.
Hassan offered a simple explanation. “Maradona wasn’t the tallest of players, Messi isn’t that tall either,” he said.
“It’s not about being tall or short, we have physical players … We’re not playing rugby here, we’re playing football – not American football – we’re playing football, and we’re ready to go.”
Egypt enter the match having secured second place in Group G behind Belgium, who defeated Senegal on Wednesday to secure a place in the last 16.
Salah asked to be substituted with half an hour to go in Egypt’s final group match against Iran before qualification was assured, which Hassan confirmed was due to a hamstring strain.
It appeared to be similar to the injury he suffered for Liverpool in April, but the forward has made a swift recovery and was moving freely at training.
Salah scored once and created two more for the Pharaohs in the group stage, moving to 68 international goals, one behind his coach as Egypt’s all-time leading goalscorer.
Salah, Hassan and the rest of the travelling party were greeted in Texas by thousands of fans when they arrived on Wednesday evening.
“You can’t imagine how delighted we were when the fans received us,” Hassan said.
“There were grownups, there were children. I wanted to hug everyone, I wanted to carry everyone on my shoulders.”
The Socceroos are without winger Mat Leckie and fullback Jacob Italiano.
Popovic must decide on whether he will play left-footed Jordy Bos at right back again after his promising performance against Paraguay.
“We feel relaxed, we feel confident, we feel we’re prepared and we want to put our best performance together tomorrow,” he said. “It will be a special match and we’re delighted that we’re at this stage, and we want to show once more the Australian football on the world stage.”
The winner of the Dallas clash will take on the winner of Argentina v Cape Verde, who play their knockout in Miami after the Socceroos’ match.
