New Delhi, July 2 -- At some point Thursday, in a team hotel near AT&T Stadium, the question Egypt's entire knockout campaign depends on will get an answer that nobody outside the camp has yet been given. Hossam Hassan will assess Mohamed Salah's hamstring, speak with the medical staff, and decide whether the player who carried Egypt to their first-ever World Cup group stage win is fit to start against Australia on Friday. That decision, more than anything on either team's training pitch this week, is what the Round of 32 in Dallas will turn on.

Salah would be assessed before the match. His coach told reporters he had spoken to the captain and that "God willing it's a minor injury," phrasing coaches deliver about their most important pla...