For 84 minutes in Cairo it was a rout. Then it became history. Mohamed Salah scored twice in the closing stages as Egypt thrashed Malawi 5-0 — and the second of them, a stoppage-time Panenka penalty, made him the highest scorer his country has ever had.
Salah's brace took him to 70 international goals, past the 69 of Hossam Hassan, on a night that also marked a perfect start for new head coach Ali Maher. As SuperSport reported, the 34-year-old Trabzonspor forward left it late: a far-post header on 84 minutes to draw level with Hassan, then the record-breaker five minutes into added time.
Three up by half-time, history after it
The game itself was settled long before Salah's moment arrived. Nasser Maher opened the scoring after just six minutes with his first international goal, turning in Mohamed Hany's cross from the right. Five minutes later Omar Marmoush pounced on a misplaced back-pass to double the lead, and Hany went from provider to scorer on 38 minutes, meeting a cleared Trezeguet cross first time from 25 metres and sending it soaring into the top corner.
Malawi, to their credit, kept the score down for most of the second half. But with six minutes left, substitute Ibrahim Adel crossed from the left and Salah stooped to head home his 69th Egypt goal. Then, deep in stoppage time, Hamza Abdelkarim — on for Trezeguet in the 72nd minute — was tripped in the box, and Salah dinked the penalty down the middle for number 70, in his 123rd appearance for his country, as Liverpool.com noted.
The record that belonged to the man Egypt just sacked
There is a twist that makes the night richer still. The record Salah broke belonged to Hossam Hassan — the coach Egypt sacked last week before appointing Maher in his place. Hassan the striker set the mark; Hassan the coach lost his job; and in the very first game of the new era, his successor's captain took his record away.
Salah had endured a disrupted start to this qualifying campaign — taken off after an hour in the goalless draw with Angola, then missing the win in South Sudan — but he returned wearing the armband in Cairo and finished the evening alone at the top of Egypt's scoring charts. His club form travels with him: he has nine goals in 11 league appearances for Trabzonspor this season since his summer move from Liverpool.
Top of the group, and Lilongwe next
Egypt sit top of Group B with seven points from three matches, three clear of Angola, who host South Sudan on Saturday. Malawi stay third on three points, and the two sides meet again on Tuesday in Lilongwe, where Maher's men can tighten their grip on the group's one qualifying place on a busy night that also saw Nigeria revive their own campaign in Uyo.
Beyond the Final Whistle: Records in international football are usually chased for years in public. Salah took this one in eleven minutes — a header to level, a Panenka to lead, against the record of the man whose sacking started Egypt's new era a week ago. At 34, in a new league and a new country, he is not winding down. He is still rewriting the book. Where does Salah now rank among the greatest African players of all time — is the argument over?
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