Wael Gomaa: 'Salah will be a major attraction at Qatar 2022'
The former Egyptian international with 114 international caps looked ahead to the 2022 Qatar World Cup and the possible presence of 'The Pharaohs' in the Gulf.
Former Egyptian international Wael Gomaa admitted that he dreamed of participating in the World Cup throughout his entire career but ultimately was never able to fulfil the dream. The former Al-Ahly star and currently a representative of the Qatar 2022 organising body (Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy) hopes that Egypt will participate in the next 2022 World Cup in Qatar with a positive performance at the tournament making up for the disappointing display at the Russian World Cup in 2018.
Gomaa spoke on different topics while participating in a recent Generation Amazing event (a Doha based platform to drive change through football) with AS Arabia picking up on the Egyptian's key observations.
The former Egyptian defender recalled his impressive honours list with Cairo giants Al-Ahly winning seven domestic league championships, the CAF Champions League five times along with a further four CAF Super Cups and the centre back also bagged three Africa cup of Nations winners medals with the Egyptian national side.
On the current Pharoahs side he observed: "So far it is soon to evaluate the performance of the national team, since they only played two games under the guidance of coach Hossam Al-Badry, so there are many challenges that await Al-Badry and the players. It's key that the image that Egypt's national team left during the 2018 World Cup in Russia can be forgotten as it was a disappointment and let down the aspirations of the many Egyptian fans. It's vital that we can deliver a strong series of performances with the national team, especially considering that the bulk of the current squad were involved at the last World Cup".
Salah needs assistance
When asked about the role of Mohamed Salah in helping the Egyptian national team in the 2022 World Cup, Gomaa commented: "Football is a team sport, Salah will not play alone in the Qatar World Cup and will need to be well supported in the squad to help him out". Because of his popularity, Salah will not be a key figure for the Egyptian national team alone but one of the big name stars at the 2022 World Cup. We saw this at the Club World Cup last year, where there was a massive interest from all football fans to see Mohamed Salah as he helped Liverpool to win the title. He's a fine talent but we all know that he will need service to boost the team even if he was the best player in the world.
Qatar will dazzle the whole world in 2022
Regarding organizing the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and the upward trajectory of the Qatar national team, Gomaa specified: "Given the situation regarding Qatar's preparations for the 2022 World Cup, they are at the highest levels and I'm sure Qatar will dazzle the entire world. The stadiums are incredible and the Qatar national team will will surprise many after winning the Asian Cup last year. They also fared well at the Copa América last year and have a young squad and am sure will be determined to present a good image in front of their own fans”.
El-Gohary, Shehata and Jose
Gomaa also looked at the coaches who he played under during his football career stating: "at national team level, both Mahmoud El-Gohary and Hassan Shehata helped me a lot to improve my performance and achieve for more. With Ahly, Manuel Jose was great to work under.
Gomaa concluded his participation by praising the role of Generation Amazing with the Doha based platform affiliated with SC. He bestowed the values that help younger athletes to fulfil their ambitions by following principles such as sportsmanship and fair play.