Russia In the Driving Seat Ahead of Egypt Clash

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The second round of 2018 World Cup group matches start on Tuesday 19th June when Russia meet Egypt in Group A.

This is a massive match for both teams as they aim to pick up maximum points for different reasons.  Following their tremendous win over Saudi Arabia, Russia are looking to make it two wins from two in the group.  With Uruguay likely to win the match against Saudi Arabia, Russia know a win in this match could secure progress to the second round.

Egypt have never reached the second round of the World Cup and are still searching for their first win in the tournament.  The loss to Uruguay means they have played five games at the World Cup finals and failed to win any of them.  A defeat in this game could see Egypt eliminated before their final group match.

Russia came into the 2018 World Cup low on confidence and expectations were not very high among the fans. However, the excellent 5-0 win over Saudi Arabia has propelled Russia to the top of Group A and given the players and fans a positive belief in what the team can achieve.

Having said that, Saudi Arabia were very poor opposition and Russia are yet to be truly tested at the tournament.  The Saudi Arabia defence was left exposed and while Russia did well to take advantage of their weak opponents, Saudi Arabia must take some of the blame for their own demise.

Egypt looked set to take a point from their opening Group A match against Uruguay only to concede a late equaliser and lose the match 1-0.

Without their Star player Mohamed Salah in attack, Egypt were on the back foot for much of the game and could easily have lost by more then a single goal.  However, to hold out for so long and concede a late goal in the 89th minute must hurt the Egyptian players and they must lift themselves for this hugely important game.

There have been under 2.5 goals in five of Egypt’s last six World Cup games and they will need to keep things tight again in this game, if they are to have any chance of winning and reaching the Round of 16.

Looking ahead to the team news and Russia could be without Alan Dzagoev who suffered a hamstring injury against Saudi Arabia.  His replacement in that game, Denis Cheryshev, is set to come into the starting XI following his good performance from the bench.

Egypt are hoping Mohamed Salah will return to their starting XI for this match having missed the first game against Uruguay.  The Liverpool forward is likely to be the only change to the team which almost held on for a point in their first match.

Russia know they have a great chance to reach the second round of the 2018 World Cup and will be buoyed by their opening result.  The pressure is on Egypt to get a win following their defeat but the hosts are going to be difficult to beat with the extra confidence they have gained.

It could be a tight game, without the goals seen in Russia’s first match but the hosts could come away with a narrow single goal victory.