Marmoush can be Egypt's man to give Salah a helping hand

Frankfurt forward hopes to deliver for the Pharaohs, who have struggled for goals at recent Afcon tournaments

- Yara El-Shaboury

Egypt's period of success during the late 2000s at the Africa Cup of Nations can be defined by forward-thinking attackers who seemed to have only one instruction on their mind when taking the pitch: go for goal. In 2006, the duo of Ahmed Hassan and Emad Moteab scored eight of Egypt's 12 goals.

Two years later the triumvirate of Hosny Abd Rabo, Mohamed Aboutrika and Amr Zaki scored four each. In 2010, it was Hassan again, alongside the super-sub Gedo, who averaged a goal every 35 minutes.

The national team now boasts their best-ever goalscorer in Mohamed Salah. But the mentality has changed somewhat and he has scored only six goals in three Afcon editions, two in each. Combining that with the fact that he is relied on as Egypt's primary creator makes one thing abundantly clear: he needs help.

Since the golden generation of the late 2000s, Egypt have been to two Afcon finals, losing in 2017 against Cameroon before falling short against Senegal in 2022.

During both those runs, Egypt's negative football got them to the ultimate match. But it also caused them to crash in their final act.

Not a single Egyptian would have batted an eye towards the style of play if Salah and co had gone on to lift either of those Afcon trophies. But the final losses show the obvious: there needs to be a balance. Defensive stability can only get you so far. You need to have decisive finishers who you can count on when it matters.

If Egypt head to Afcon again relying solely on Salah to carry the goalscoring burden and creativity, then the ending of their story is going to be a familiar one.