Canadian fans in Vancouver steal Egypt soccer great Mohamed Salah's heart at World Cup 2026: 'Probably one day I will live here'

Fans like Tamer Elzoheiry and his son Elias have been chasing a dream of seeing their Egypt win a match at the men's FIFA World Cup for some time now.

Egypt is playing in its fourth World Cup, the first coming in 1934, and had never won a match. An Egypt resident, Tamer hasn't suffered through the entire drought of 92 years as a 43-year-old, but he's endured enough heartbreaks having seen the team fail to even qualify for the World Cup time and time again and saw them lose all three matches in 2018. He travelled with Elias to Vancouver chanting "Masr!" to the beat of the drum alongside thousands of fellow Egyptian fans pre-match. The party vibes were quickly put on hold.

After an insipid first half where New Zealand took the lead through a 15th minute Finn Surman header and looked in control, it appeared the near century-long wait would extend.

But no man has fulfilled soccer dreams for Egyptians like Liverpool legend Mohamed Salah, and on Sunday night in Vancouver, he gave his people and the vast majority of the 52,497 in attendance at BC Place Stadium a memory that may well be imprinted for a lifetime.

A perfectly placed side-foot finish with his left after cutting in, in trademark fashion, from the right and playing an inch perfect 1-2 with teammate Mostafa Zico brought the most pure, unadulterated expressions of joy you could ever hope to see at a sporting event. The crowd was delirious and loud. My goodness was it loud, and it would be hard for an opponent not be overawed by the environment, at least one as relatively inexperienced as New Zealand.

Egypt, frankly, dominated after equalizing and New Zealand didn't seem to have a clue what hit them. Salah's winner was sandwiched around Zico's equalizing goal and Mahmoud Trezeguet's capper – which Salah assisted on from a corner -- in a 3-1 win. Ninety-two years, their greatest ever player helped deliver a first win from the land of the pyramids.

"It's a great feeling for all of us, it's a great achievement," Salah said after the match. "I said before, we will do our best in the tournament to make the people happy in Egypt and, I think, right now they are happy and proud."

It was past 3 a.m. in Egypt with hundreds of thousands watching as the final whistle was blown but BC Place Stadium got its own taste of Cairo. As Hussain Al Jassmi's 'Matkhafoosh Ala Masr' reverberated through the stadium, every Egypt fan hung around, singing, dancing, hugging, crying, and dancing some more over their country's historic moment.

Some of the Egyptian players joined in on the act, teasing the fans with a few of their own dance moves, only further inciting celebrations across the stadium. It was genuinely a sight to behold, and exactly what fans like Eloheiry flew in from Egypt for.

Fans just grateful to catch sight of Salah, one of the game's greats

Diab Abdallah came down to Vancouver with a pair of friends of Egyptian descent from Edmonton. They'd been in Canada for six years and were ecstatic the moment they found out Salah and co. would be making their way to Canada for one of their group fixtures.

They couldn't get tickets through the FIFA site when they had their opportunity and came to Vancouver desperate to figure out a way. They figured in a worst-case scenario they could still watch at a bar or a fan festival, but they just knew they had to be in the vicinity.

"It's amazing, it's amazing," Abdallah said. "The vibes from the World Cup make me want to do every World Cup. We are cheering for Canada, also, 100 percent."

Even fans who weren't necessarily cheering for Egypt were there for Salah. There were hundreds of Liverpool jerseys on sight, grateful to catch one of the game's greats of the past decade.

This is a moment in World Cup history that belongs to Canada as much as Egypt. This night will mean more for Egyptians, there's no doubting that. But Vancouver putting on the show it is right now for the world is a massive win long-term. The weather has been glorious, the bars are full with matches throughout the day, the atmospheres on different match days from Australia playing Turkiye to Canada's trouncing of Qatar to now Egypt's landmark moment against New Zealand could well have a generational impact.

"I was in Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022," Elzoheiry said. "For me, so far, I like this World Cup the most. Fan-wise, it's so diverse, I can see people from all over the world here. Canada, by nature, is very diverse so you can see people from Asia, Africa, Europe, all over.

"Fan-wise, it's so diverse, that's what I like most about it."

Salah has built an all-time career on moments. His 257 goals for Liverpool have helped lift them to two Premier League titles and a Champions League trophy as well. He has had sensational goals that fans around the world can recall faster than their email password. Yet, he has never had a moment like he just did in Vancouver. He's played for his country for 14 years and never experienced a win at the World Cup until Sunday night.

People are going to leave this city remembering Vancouver and remembering Canada.

"It's very nice, it's very nice," Salah said of Vancouver. "Probably one day I will live here, you never know."