TUESDAY, JUNE 19, 2018 18 Salah set to fire from the home side could damp - as Egypt lost 1-0 to Uruguay in their may have been influenced by the fact en enthusiasm in the host nation opening game. his side held out for 89 minutes be- were blown away by a 5-0 demoli- Salah has been declared 100 per fore conceding to Jose Gimenez, by tion of Saudi Arabia in the opening cent fit by Egypt’s team doctor and which time the Argentine had made game. his agent, leaving little doubt he will all three of his substitutions. The seven-time African cham- be thrown back into action in the If fully fit, the sight of Salah, who pions will pose a much tougher Pharaohs’ hour of need. scored 44 goals in a remarkable debut AFP | Saint Petersburg task, but a lot will depend upon However, as he returned to training season at Liverpool, will strike fear Salah’s fitness. on Saturday, Salah was seen by AFP into the Russians. ohamed Salah is a looming Liverpool star Salah has not fea- reporters at Egypt’s training camp Concerns Russia could become obstacle as Russia attempt tured since leaving the field in tears in Grozny needing help from team- just the second host nation to bow Mohamed Salah to virtually secure their early in the Champions League fi- mates to lift a training top over his out of the World Cup at the group M FIFA World Cup 2018 place in the knockout stages of the nal just over three weeks ago after head. stage after a seven-game winless run World Cup in Saint Petersburg today. landing heavily on his left shoulderRussia v EgyptEgypt coach Hector Cuper’s deci- ahead of the tournament have been Fears that poor performances and had to watch from the benchGroup A, Junesion 19not to risk Salah against Uruguay alleviated by a perfect start. Saint Petersburg Stadium Russia World Cup squad FIFA World Cup 2018 Egypt World Cup squad Coach: Stanislav Cherchesov Goalkeepers Russia v Egypt Coach: Hector Cuper ARG Goalkeepers Akinfeev, Gabulov, El Hadary, Group A, June 19 Lunev El-Shennawy, Saint Petersburg Stadium Ekramy 70 FIFA rank 45 RUS 5-0 KSA Match 1 EGY 0-1 URU HEAD-TO-HEAD First meeting Strikers Strikers WORLD CUP RECORD Dzyuba, 70 FIFA rank 45 Mohsen, Al. Miranchuk, 18 Wins 0 Salah RUS 5-0 KSA Match 1 EGY 0-1 URU Smolov 8 Draws 2 Defence Midfield 15 HEAD-TO-HEADLosses 3 Defence Midfield Fernandes, Granat, Ignashevich, Cheryshev, Dzagoev, Erokhin, 1.73 FirstGoals meeting for* 0.60 Abdel-Shafy, Ashraf, Elneny, Hamed, Hassan, Kudryashov, Kutepov, Gazinskiy, Golovin, Kuzyaev, 1.15 WORLDGoals CUP against* RECORD 1.40 Elmohamady, Fathi, Gaber, Kahraba, Morsy, Said, Semenov, Smolnikov An. Miranchuk, Samedov, Zhirkov, Zobnin *Per match © GRAPHIC NEWS Gabr, Hamdy, Hegazi, Samir Shikabala, Sobhi, Warda Source: FIFA © GRAPHIC NEWS 18 Wins 0 Source: FIFA © GRAPHIC NEWS 8 Draws 2 We’re preparing ourselves, 15 Losses 3 we’re training according Alan Dzagoev suffered a hamstring injury in 1.73 Goals for* 0.60 Mohamed Salah was an unnamed substitute in Egypt’s 1-0 Russia’s opener and is not expected 1.15 IgorGoals Akinfeev against* 1.40 defeat to Uruguay after failing to prove his fitness in time. It to a plan. We have done *Per match © GRAPHIC NEWS everything we planned to to recover in time to feature on Russia’s captain would be a shock if he doesn’t start on Tuesday, though. Tuesday night. has featured more Salah’s return should be the only change to the starting XI. do. We are studying Egypt Aleksandr Golovin was the and we should be able to than 100 times star man in the first match and for his nation be- Strengths exploit their weaknesses will move into a central position to Héctor Cúper, as always, builds his team on a solid cover for Dzagoev’s absence. tween the sticks, defence and Egypt conceded only 20 goals in his RUSSIAN COACH STANISLAV CHERCHESOV Denis Cheryshev will get a start as and has won six Egypt first 35 games in charge. a reward for his fine showing off the league titles with Weaknesses Russia bench against Saudi Arabia. CSKA Moscow With Mohamed Salah in a race to get fit in time for the finals, Egypt may struggle to score with Marwan Mohsen often left isolated up front. It will be a very tough game Strengths of course, because we are Russia have a clear gameplan and have benefited from a switch to a back three, which most play- Match Facts meeting the hosts in a ers use at club level. There are also a number of • There have been under 2.5 goals scored in 5 of Egypt’s last 6 WC venue that could witness good box-to-box players in the squad. • Russia opened up the 2018 World Cup with a stunning 5-0 win over 60,000 spectators, but Weaknesses Saudi Arabia. Russia will sorely miss the injured striker Al- • Egypt are on the back foot after falling to a 1-0 defeat in their group the team members are opener. They need a positive result on Tuesday. eksandr Kokorin while the wing-backs are determined to win • Mohamed Salah’s return is a game changer for Egypt but is it enough arguably too old and the centre-backs too young to bring Russia back down to earth? EGYPT’S TEAM MANAGER IHAB LEHETA and inexperienced • We could witness a low-scoring affair here, which Sweden could edge. FIFA World Cup 2018 FIFA World Cup 2018 PREVIEW Poland v Senegal Colombia v Japan Group H, June 19 Spartak Stadium,VS Moscow Group H, June 19 Poland Colombia Mordovia Arena,VS Saransk Japan Senegal Frank Fabra would have started Japan have a number Poland have ex- Kara and Salif at left-back for Colombia but of options in midfield in perimented with a Sane compete for was ruled out of the tournament attack. three-man defence a starting berth earlier this month. Johan Mojica Hotaru Yamaguchi and and back four in alongside Napoli 8 FIFA rank 27 will start instead. Takashi Inui ae both push- the build up to the ace Kalidou Kouli- W8 D1 L1 Qualifying W5 D3 L0 Jose Pekerman has to decide 16 FIFA rank 61 ing for starts. 2018 World Cup. baly at the heart between the likes of Carlos Bac- W7 D6 L5 Qualifying W13 D3 L2 Kamil Glik’s inju- HEAD-TO-HEAD of Senegal’s back ca, Luis Muriel and Mateus Uribe HEAD-TO-HEAD Strengths Even if Japan play ry in the build up First meeting four. on the flanks. Colombia 2 Draws 1 The high-profile trio of with Mourinho or to the tournament WORLD CUP RECORD Senegal have Wilmar Barrios, Carlos Keisuke Honda, Shinji Arsene Wenger, it may forced them 15 Wins 2 a lot of attacking Sanchez and Abel Aguilar are in Kagawa and Shinji Oka- into fielding a back 5 Draws 2 talent and Keita competition for a starting berth zaki are back after being would be so difficult four. 11 Losses 1 Balde may have to in central midfield. sidelined by Halilhodzic for Japan to get to 1.42 Goals for* 1.40 settle for a place Recent 1.29 Goals against* 1.20 meetings Japan 0 and should lift the team the last 16. If Poland Strengths on the bench. Strengths *Per match © GRAPHIC NEWS 2014 Japan 1-4 Colombia on and off the pitch. was the first match it Robert Lewandowski is one The country’s two superstars, Strengths 2007 Japan 0-0 Colombia Weaknesses would be different of the most lethal strikers The team have an impressively James Rodríguez and Radamel in the world and should be WORLD CUP RECORD Nishino has tried 3-4-2-1 – strong spine with Kalidou Koulibaly Falcao, have had good seasons FORMER COACH OF JAPAN ably backed up by Arkadi- 7 Wins 4 a formation used by some PHILIPPE TROUSSIER in defence, Idrissa Gana Gueye and at club level and ar- top clubs in the J-League usz Milik, who is back from rive in Russia in good 2 Draws 4 Badou Ndiaye in midfield and Sadio 9 Losses 9 – in a few friendlies but two serious knee injuries. shape. Mané up front. 1.44 Goals for* 0.82 the team have struggled Weaknesses Weaknesses 1.50 Goals against* 1.29 to adapt to the changes. Had the worst defence of There is a feeling in Senegal that Cis- *Per match © GRAPHIC NEWS recently. all European group win- sé does not get the best out of the at- ners in qualifying and Adam tacking talent at his disposal and the Match Facts We have three tough Nawalka is considering us- friendly draws against Uzbekistan opponents. But ing a back three instead of and Bosnia-Herzegovina in March • There have been under 2.5 goals scored in 5 of his favoured 4-2-3-1. Weaknesses Colombia’s last 6 WC games. There have been under they (Colombia) did nothing to change that.4-2-3-1. David Ospina has 2.5 goals scored in Japan’s last 3 WC games. are not (defending suffered from not • Colombia are unbeaten in four matches but drew both champions) Match Facts playing regularly at of their warm-up matches for the 2018 World Cup Germany, so we • There have been over 2.5 goals scored in Poland’s last 10 WC Arsenal and has made 0-0.