Salah must tread carefully if he’s to reform soccer in Egypt

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But Salah must tread carefully if he intends to be an instrument of change in a sport mired at home in violence, inefficiency and a web of interests behind which influential…

But how long will a government that’s shown little tolerance for dissent put up with the Liverpool star’s show of independence and quest for change?

As long as he plays brilliantly, Salah’s sweeping popularity will protect him, while giving the government of general-turned-president Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi the global good publicity it wants.

“Salah’s power is rooted outside government control, which makes him stronger than the government,” said political analyst Hassan Nafaa of the Premier League’s best player and top scorer last season. “Salah will continue to win his battles unless the government decides to take him on and accuse him of cooperating with the opposition.”

While Salah has generally restricted himself in a series of videos he posted this month to issues pertaining to security and discipline in the national squad’s camps, the 26-year-old striker has also raised issues that touch on some of the ills of Egyptian society, like rising xenophobia or jingoism.

He took exception, for example, to the federation’s repeated mention of his agent, Colombian national Rami Abbas, as a foreigner who is the cause of problems between him and the federation. He also accused the federation of trying to turn local supporters against him by suggesting that his stardom has gone to his head and questioning his loyalty to Egypt.

“You tried to portray me as someone who hates his country. Rest assured, people won’t believe you,” said Salah, who is on FIFA’s three-man shortlist for its Player of the Year award along with Juventus’ Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid’s Luka Modric.

Turning to the case of his agent, he said: “This is 2018, you cannot keep shouting Colombian! Colombian! Colombian! about my agent ... you keep saying his attitude is not good. But, look, we have a problem, so forget his attitude and just solve the problem.”

“They (federation officials) could not take on Salah so they turned to his agent, but at the end they capitulated,” said Taha Ismail, a former Egypt forward…

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