Mohamed Salah watch: Pharoahs made to suffer without their Liverpool talisman in World Cup opener

You could almost hear the collective sigh of disappointment at Egypt’s pre-match announcement that Mohamed Salah would only make the substitutes’ bench against Uruguay. In reality, though, the bigger surprise came 24 hours earlier, when coach Hector Cuper claimed his star was “almost 100 percent” certain to play in Yekaterinburg.

The initial prognosis for Salah’s shoulder injury was a recovery time of up to four weeks that, at a push, might make him available for Egypt’s matches against Russia and Saudi Arabia. Cuper, vastly experienced and a pragmatist by nature, clearly identified the Uruguay game as a ‘must-not-lose’ rather than a ‘must-win’. His superstar will be much more important in the battles to come.

None of this will have been any consolation to Salah, of course, who spent a large chunk of his 26th birthday watching events unfold from the substitutes’ bench with an expression that betrayed his inner torment, coupled with the air of a man who knew misfortune had rendered him a bystander to a moment that could have been his.

Cuper’s caution was justified ahead of kick-off when, moments before being greeted by a huge roar as he walked onto the pitch to wish his teammates luck, footage circulated online of Salah instinctively recoiling when patted on his injured shoulder in the tunnel by an admiring young tournament helper.

In his absence, Egypt’s approach underlined that while Liverpool’s superstar constitutes their entire attack, he does not represent their whole identity. Cuper has built a formidable defensive unit over the last three years, fortified by giant West Brom defender Ahmed Hegazy and Arsenal’s unfussy midfield destroyer Mohamed Elneny.

Their deep, compact defensive lines slowed down Uruguay, forced them into predictable passes and stifled their illustrious attack for the first hour.

Luis Suarez was denied once by the side-netting and once by the shoulder of Mohamed El-Shenawy. Edinson Cavani came closer, forcing the Al Ahly goalkeeper into a flying stop with a spectacular volley and crashing a free-kick off the post late on, but until then his threat had amounted to one blocked attempt in the first half.

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At the other end of the pitch Egypt’s attack was understandably toothless; Salah has 33 international goals to his name, while the rest of Cuper’s squad has 32 combined. Amr Wada, the PAOK winger picked to fill the void on the right, is still waiting for his first international goal and his most notable contribution was to land heavily on his back after a failed attempt at a bicycle kick.

Short on key incidents, the big screens in Yekaterinburg Arena instead resorted to broadcasting regular updates of The Salah Show, his every appearance raising the volume of the red masses in the stands as he conversed with teammates, fiddled with his shin pads or clapped encouragingly.

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Uruguay’s breakthrough was far from inevitable, and the sight of Salah slumping back in his chair after Jose Gimenez had risen highest to head in an 89th-minute winner highlighted how close Egypt had come to achieving Cuper’s objective.

Egypt now need their superstar back doing what he does best if they are to derail a confident Russia in Saint Petersburg on Tuesday, before punishing Saudi Arabia in a final round of matches that could end up settling Group A qualification for the knockout stage on goal difference.

Cuper can only hope that Salah is ready to shoulder the hopes of a nation by then.