Chris Wood v Mo Salah: Premier League stars collide in hunt for World Cup history

Sunday, 21 June 2026

All Whites coach Simon Elliott is hoping they can limit Egypt star Mo Salah's attacking opportunities, but their most senior defender is ready to deal with his threat.

Chris Wood’s All Whites versus Mo Salah’s Egypt.

The two Premier League stars will collide at BC Place in Vancouver at 6pm on Sunday (1pm Monday NZT), chasing a historic World Cup victory for their countries.

Neither New Zealand nor Egypt has ever won a World Cup match, but both arrive off positive opening-game draws against Iran and Belgium respectively.

The stakes in their second match are enormous. Three points would likely be enough to book a place in the knockout stages.

Both sides will lean heavily on their talismanic forwards, while the key to victory may be containing the opposition’s biggest attacking threat.

The Premier League pair were both on the scoresheet when they first met on the international stage at the 2012 London Olympics, their first-half goals leading to a 1-1 draw.

Chris Wood celebrates after scoring against Egypt at the 2012 London Olympics.

Neither featured when Egypt beat the All Whites 1-0 in a FIFA Series match in Cairo in 2024, with Max Mata leading the line for the All Whites in Wood’s absence.

Much of the All Whites’ focus this week has been on limiting the influence of Salah, who scored 257 goals across nine seasons for Liverpool before bidding farewell at the end of the 2025-26 campaign.

Egypt face a similar challenge with Wood, who came into the World Cup following an injury-disrupted season with Nottingham Forest.

New Zealand’s all-time leading scorer made a huge impact on his World Cup return, setting up both of Eli Just’s goals in the 2-2 draw with Iran in a dominant target-man display.

Egypt, however, are unlikely to give him the same freedom.

“This game is completely different to the first game,” Wood said at the team’s official pre-game press conference.

“We’ve looked at them against Belgium and they’ve looked at us against Iran, and I’m sure both teams have come up with different gameplans.

The All Whites left San Diego for Vancouver on Friday local time (Saturday NZ time), where they are set to have their work cut out stopping Egypt's star attackers in their second World Cup match.

“For us as players, it’s about bringing the same level of energy and intensity and raising it again. It was a draw. We want to win.”

Salah has terrorised defenders as a right winger for a number of years, but against Belgium he operated in the No 10 role – the team’s central playmaker.

All Whites coach Darren Bazeley said they had a plan to combat Salah wherever he lined up, but he was also wary not to leave Egypt’s other big-name attacker open, Manchester City’s Omar Marmoush.

“Firstly we need to see where he’s playing. Depending on where he pops up, we’ll work out a plan to deal with him,” Bazeley said of Salah.

“He’s one of the good players Egypt have in attacking areas, but we’re going to have to deal with a number of them.

“The key for us is defending as a group, as a unit and staying compact, connected and working connected.”

Salah scored twice at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Wood is still searching for his first goal on football’s biggest stage, but there may never be a better time to find it.