Salah, Belgian golden generation eye last shot at World Cup glory

PARIS: Egypt’s Mohamed Salah and Belgium stalwarts Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Thibaut Courtois head into Group G at the 2026 World Cup knowing this summer’s tournament will likely be their last chance for glory on football’s biggest stage.

Their respective countries have been drawn together into the same pool, alongside New Zealand and Iran, whose participation at the World Cup had been thrown into question following co-host country United States and Israel’s war with the Middle East nation.

The arrival on the international scene in the early 2010s of a Belgian golden generation, featuring Eden Hazard, Vincent Kompany, De Bruyne, Lukaku and Courtois, seemed to herald a new dawn for the country as they sought to win a first major trophy.

But despite rising to become FIFA’s number one-ranked team, the best result that glittering cast of stars managed to return was a third-placed finish at the 2018 World Cup.

Of that generation remain only Napoli duo De Bruyne and Lukaku, now aged 34 and 33 respectively, and Real Madrid goalkeeper Courtois, 34, who returned to the fold last year after a falling-out with previous coach Domenico Tedesco that caused him to miss Belgium’s round-of-16 exit at Euro 2024.

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The trio will suspect that the upcoming World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico will be their last chance of turning all that initial hope and expectation into some long-awaited silverware.

And the current batch of Belgian hopefuls is not without talent, as the likes of Amadou Onana, Charles De Ketelaere, Jeremy Doku and Youri Tielemans more than have what it takes to be a stellar supporting cast to their star team-mates.

Hamstrung?

Salah, his country’s second-highest goalscorer in history, who will turn 34 during the World Cup, will doubtless have more modest ambitions heading into the tournament as part of an Egyptian team that have failed to win a trophy since being crowned Africa Cup of Nations champions for a third straight time in 2010.

Despite being widely considered the finest footballer ever to come out of the North African country, Liverpool legend Salah has never tasted success with Egypt.

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His sole previous World Cup appearance, in 2018, was hampered by a shoulder injury he suffered in that year’s Champions League final and he goes into this edition struggling for fitness after suffering a hamstring injury in late April, which curtailed his Anfield farewell.

Iran are set to appear at their fourth straight World Cup, but much of the build-up to their latest attempt to reach the knockout stages for the first time has been overshadowed by questions about whether they would be allowed to enter the States.

After a call was made by US special envoy Paolo Zampolli to have his native Italy replace Iran at the World Cup, American Secretary of State Marco Rubio interceded to to deny that Washington had asked the Iranian team not to come to the tournament.

New Zealand will make their third appearance at a World Cup finals this summer thanks to a 3-0 victory over New Caledonia in the final of OFC qualifying.