Mohamed Salah scored twice for Egypt to end an eight-month wait for a goal for his country in what was a mixed night of results for the Liverpool internationals.
Liverpool’s number 11 last scored for his country in January but put the wait behind him on Friday with a commanding performance in Egypt’s 3-0 win over Niger.
Salah played the full 90 minutes and scored on both sides of halftime; the first shot saw him capitalize on free space in the box, finishing off with aplomb with his left foot.
Bring it close and into the penalty area and it’s lethal.
His second, and Egypt’s third, came midway through the second half from the penalty spot, his trademark powerful conversion the choice of shot that did not let him down.
There were reports on social media that Salah had scored a hat-trick, but Mostafa Mohamed was responsible for Egypt’s second goal of the night.
Mohamed Salah has scored twice for Egypt tonight in their friendly against Niger (first goal below).
He is now just one goal away from becoming the second player (after Hossam Hassan) to score more than 50 times for the Egyptian national team. #LFC pic.twitter.com/dYdJ4aLiID
— Liam Bekker (@LiamBekker) September 23, 2022
Elsewhere, the same winning scoreline came to Brazil after a goal from Marquinhos and a brace from Richarlison, with Alisson the only member of Liverpool’s Brazilian contingent to feature for 90 minutes.
Alisson had few saves to make against Ghana during the friendly and ended his day with a valuable clean sheet, while Fabinho played the last 27 minutes and Roberto Firmino was an unused substitute.
Darwin Núñez played a full 90 minutes, his first of the season, in a shock 1-0 friendly loss to Iran.
The 23-year-old started on the left of a front three, alongside ex-Rojo Luis Suarez and Facundo Pellistri, and had his chances in front of goal in what was a dominant performance for Uruguay everywhere but in the marker.
Uruguay take on Canada in a friendly on Tuesday and a goal from Núñez would be the ideal confidence booster ahead of his return to Liverpool, where a match awaits him every three days until November.
Jordan Henderson was not a member of the traveling squad for England’s 1-0 loss to Italy, while Gareth Southgate kept Trent Alexander-Arnold on the bench all night.
Ultimately, Sepp van den Berg played the full 90 minutes as the Netherlands under-21s cruised to a 2-1 victory over Belgium.
Meanwhile, Bobby Clark came off the bench in England’s Under-18s 2-1 win and Trent Kone-Doherty played the final 28 minutes as the Republic of Ireland Under-17s lost 3-0 to the Netherlands. .
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