India, June 22 -- For 58 minutes, Mohamed Salah was trapped between two chapters of his life. The first belonged to the not-so-distant past, where his Liverpool career was wrestling with decline, uncertainty and the uncomfortable reality that football's relentless cycle eventually comes for everyone. One where his final season at Anfield had ended amid friction, disappointment and questions over what had remained from what seemed an endless fracas.

The other remained stubbornly out of reach. It was the version of Salah still capable of influencing games at the grandest of stages and reminding the world why he still is one of the defining footballers of his generation. A goal down against New Zealand, Egypt needed him to make that leap of...