In the end, Salah, with a damaged shoulder and a weak group of teammates around him, could not do enough. On Tuesday it was Cherchesov, the Russian manager, who walked off the field waving his arms in jubilation to chants of “ROO-SEE-YAA!” Russia’s final group match is against Uruguay, and it almost certainly will advance safely even without a victory or tie.

In contrast, Salah’s World Cup is almost certain to end in six days. Like plenty of other stars before him, Salah confronted the harsh reality on Tuesday of how difficult it is to excel without the usual strong support at the club level, with players like Roberto Firmino, his Brazilian teammate at Liverpool.

In World Cup qualifying, however, Egypt largely succeeded because of its improved defense, conceding just six goals in eight games.

And for the first 45 minutes on Tuesday, the Egyptian back line held strong, intercepting and deflecting balls and neutralizing a series of Russian attacks. El-Shenawy, the goalkeeper, commanded the area around his net, coming out to punch away cross after cross.

At the same time, Egypt struggled to find a consistent link to Salah in the middle of the field, where the game often looked more like pinball than soccer.