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Mohamed Salah was hoisted high by his Egyptian teammates amid jubilant scenes on the streets of Vancouver after steering his nation to their first-ever World Cup triumph.

The Pharaohs’ captain, Salah, long regarded as the face of football in the Middle East as well as Egypt, fittingly netted the crucial goal that set his side on course for victory in a challenging Group G encounter against New Zealand.

Egypt had initially fallen behind to the tournament’s lowest-ranked team after Finn Surman opened the scoring in the 15th minute. However, Mostafa Ziko restored parity around the hour mark before Salah calmly converted to turn the game around. Trezeguet then sealed the win eight minutes from full-time, giving Egypt a well-deserved cushion.

Following the 3-1 win, the Egyptian players were captured on video outside the stadium, relishing their achievement and celebrating enthusiastically with their supporters.

One of the players carried a speaker as the squad sang together in Arabic, with Salah — the iconic former Liverpool winger — right in the heart of the celebrations.

Moments later, Salah was lifted onto the shoulders of one of his teammates to a thunderous cheer from the Egyptian fans surrounding the team.

The 34-year-old, revered as a national hero back home, has already achieved everything possible at club level with Liverpool and holds a long list of individual honours from an illustrious career.

Despite Egypt’s standing as Africa’s most successful footballing nation, boasting a record seven Africa Cup of Nations titles, Salah has experienced limited success internationally.

During his tenure with the national side, Egypt have twice finished as runners-up in the Africa Cup of Nations. Salah also led them back to the World Cup in 2018 after a 28-year absence, only for the Pharaohs to lose all three matches in that edition.

Their campaign in Russia was seen as a missed opportunity to record a maiden World Cup victory, following previous winless appearances in 1990 and 1934. However, by ending that 92-year wait in Vancouver, Salah has finally enjoyed his long-awaited moment of international glory in Egyptian colours.

Egypt now sit proudly at the top of Group G after also drawing with Belgium in their opener and are edging closer to securing a historic first qualification for the knockout rounds.

The Pharaohs will conclude their group-stage fixtures against Iran on Saturday, 27 June, in Seattle.