Who? Egypt - Uruguay
Where? Central Stadium, Yekaterinburg
When? June 15, 14:00 (CET local time)
Egypt (Uri Levy)
The past three weeks in Egypt seemed like eternity. Since Mohamed Salah has dislocated his shoulder the entire nation got into a post traumatic shock. Everyone was horrified with their star player’s future & his chances to take part in the World Cup matches against Uruguay & Russia.
On Thursday afternoon Egypt received the encouraging news they all were waiting for. Coach Hector Cúper declared that Mohamed Salah will take part in their first match against Uruguay, after being almost 100% fit, only three weeks after his injury.
While the majority of the Egyptian fans are terrified of the thought of their team playing without Liverpool’s Egyptian king, the Pharaohs’ fans should put their beliefs in the likes of Mahmoud Trezeguet from Kasimpasa, Abdalla Said from Al-Ahli Jeddah, Mahmoud Kahraba and Marwan Mohsen. None of them is a big name in Salah’s scale but they all decent footballers indeed.
Egypt will look to grab a point against Uruguay, what will be counted as a huge achievement for the Middle Eastern nation. With Salah on the field, and support of 100 million Egyptians worldwide, the Pharaohs will look to make the unexpected - take points from one of the world’s top teams.
Uruguay (Yossi Medina)
Oscar Tabárez knows what is the World Cup better than anyone else in the Uruguay national team. This is his fourth World Cup and he would like to keep his perfect record of qualifying to the knockout stage.
In this group, Egypt may be the only team to challenge Uruguay in terms of international players. With four players that made more than 100 caps and two more that may join them during the group stage (Luis Suárez and Fernando Muslera), Uruguay is fielding a well experienced team that will be the favourite in such clash.
Even the players of Uruguay knows how strong their squad is. In the last press conference before the match, Diego Godin said that the Uruguayan preparation for the match does not depend on a single player. Except from the leaders, watch out for some younger and talented players such as Giorgian De Arrascaeta, 24-years-old midfielder who plays for Cruzeiro and impressed at the friendly match against Uzbekistan.
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