“For my first World Cup, I hope to play, score and win the tournament.”
Mostafa Mohamed, as this quote illustrates, has no shortage of ambition. He is also right to feel positive, with Hossam Hassan’s Egypt team currently top of Group A in African qualifying for the FIFA World Cup 26™. The Pharaohs are five points clear of their nearest rivals, Burkina Faso, and after six matchdays, their only dropped points came in a 1-1 draw with Guinea-Bissau last June.
What’s more, in addition to the 27-year-old Nantes forward, Egypt boast some of the best players in Africa, such as Mohamed Salah, who is working wonders for Liverpool, and Omar Marmoush, who has made a positive start to life with Manchester City and will be playing in the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™ later this year.
Egypt, therefore, have the resources to match their ambitions, and will be hoping to forget their painful final-round elimination from the Qatar 2022 qualifiers by Senegal . This time, Mohamed, who has scored one goal in this preliminary campaign, has no intention of letting the chance slip through his fingers.
He spoke frankly to FIFA about his ambitions and his coach, the brilliance of team-mate Salah and his favourite World Cup memories.
You’re playing your third season with FC Nantes. How is life in the west of France?
Mostafa Mohamed: At first, it was difficult because Nantes is a small city, and I came from for Egypt’s capital Cairo and had also played in Istanbul. But now I can say that life in Nantes is good for me, I can focus on my job. I’m happy with my family and with my friends. I love the football here, the atmosphere and the fans.
We saw you celebrating with your son when you scored the winner against Lille on 15 March.
Yes, I had promised him that I’d celebrate with him when I scored. We always play together in the park or in the house, and he loves football. I’m not sure he understood what was happening because he is just four years old (laughs). After the game, we also went to celebrate together with the fans. We watched the celebration again that day on TV and the day after! I told him: “Come and dance with me like we do with the fans.” It was a nice day.
How does it compare to score for Nantes and for your national team?
There’s no big difference; it’s my job and I do my best to score goals. Whether it’s with Egypt or Nantes, when I score, I help the team and I make the fans happy. In Nantes, I make the 40,000 fans [in La Beaujoire] happy. In Egypt, I make 100 million people happy. The difference is how many people are happy when I score. (laughs)
What about your own happiness with the national team?
It’s always a big pleasure to go away with the national team, I love wearing the jersey of Egypt. I consider myself lucky to play in our national team, because a lot of people can’t, so I try to do my best.
What do you think about your national team’s manager Hossam Hassan?
My father always wanted me to meet Hossam Hassan. He said he would teach me a lot because he was the best striker in the history of Egypt. He is a legend. After I met Hossam Hassan, I called my father and I said: “Now you must be happy. One of your dreams has happened – I just met Hossam Hassan and he is my coach now. What do you want me to do?” My father replied: “Just learn. Just listen. Just try to do the best. To be like him.”
So, that’s what I do. I try to learn everything from him. He always gives me information about what I can do, how to move, how to score, how I can communicate with the ball when I’m in the box, how I can shoot. I speak with him a lot.
What about your attacking line and especially Mo Salah?
Mo is a big star, and we are very lucky to have a player like him in our team. You can only be confident in your team when you have a big legend, the best player in the history of Egypt. We try to learn from what he does. I always try to sit with him. He talks about his life; some players ask him questions like “What do you do during your day?” or “What did you do during Ramadan?” or “What can I do to be a good player?”. He answers all the questions. He is amazing. For me, he has a great personality. I love him a lot. He is a wonderful player.
What about other players?
[Omar] Marmoush is a good player who’s doing well currently. We also have Treziguet and Zizo. Treziguet also used to play in England and in Turkey. Zizo was good in Portugal before and now he plays in Zamalek. Last year, he was nominated amongst the best inter-club players in Africa, he finished second behind the South Africa goalkeeper [Ronwen Williams]. We have our centre-back Monem [Mohamed Abdelmoneim] who plays in Nice, and our midfield is amazing. Our whole team is good! For me, our team is ready to do something in the World Cup when we go.
