Liverpool legends past and present meet tonight. Luis Suarez and Mo Salah, cult heroes on the Kop, cross swords as Uruguay and Egypt kick off their Group A campaign.
Liverpool legends past and present meet tonight. Luis Suarez and Mo Salah, cult heroes on the Kop, cross swords as Uruguay and Egypt kick off their Group A campaign. They play in Yekaterinburg, which is a bit of mouthful. The same could be said of Suarez at the last World Cup.
His 2014 tournament ended in ignominy as he treated Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini the way a rabid dog might treat a bone. He bit him, but the buck-toothed terrier is a changed man, according to coach Oscar Tabarez and keen to make amends.
Salah, the current king of the Kop, has recovered from his shoulder injury and intends to celebrate his 26th birthday in fine style. He stepped out of Suarez’s old shadow at Liverpool. Tonight, he could truly shine in his first World Cup.
Another key battle between old and new comes in the late game between Portugal and Spain. Arguably the game of the tournament so far, the Iberian neighbours meet at the strangest time.
Portugal’s veterans of Pepe, Bruno Alves, Joao Moutinho and Cristiano Ronaldo take on a coaching novice in Fernando Hierro. Spain’s caretaker coach has been in the job for less than two days, following the shock sacking of Julen Lopetegui.
The Spanish are blessed with perhaps the best first XI, but cursed with the worst coach, certainly in terms of international experience. Hierro hasn’t got any. It is often said the greatest players need no instruction. They coach themselves. Spain are about to find out the hard way.
Anything less than a victory and the Spanish football association will feel the wrath of a raging nation.
Neil Humphreys
Singapore’s best selling author and Football columnist
