The first two matches in the World Cup 2018 involve hosts Russia playing Saudi Arabia and Salah’s Egypt against Suarez’s Uruguay. The South American team are clear favourites to top the group, but we know from the past that anything can happen at the World Cup.
The home nation’s fans may be able to lift their team to a higher level, or Mo Salah may single-handedly catapult Egypt into the next stage of the competition. The Russian hosts have the advantage of having larger numbers of fans spurring them on, as well as the comforts of being based in their home country and less travel requirements.
Salah’s race against time to be fit
Mo Salah is in a race against time to see if he will make the first match against Uruguay. After picking up a serious shoulder injury in the Champions League Final, it was first feared that he would miss the World Cup entirely. Fortunately for Egypt, he has been named in the squad and the initial thoughts were that he would feature in the second group match. However, it looks like his chances of playing against Uruguay have improved so that game could be an exciting match up between Liverpool’s previous hero Suarez and the latest Kop idol, Salah
The rankings do not look good for Russia
The hosts have just been announced as the lowest ranked team playing in the World Cup. They recently dropped to 70th, marginally ahead of Group A opponents Saudi Arabia who are in 67th place. Egypt stand in 45th place and Uruguay 15th, making the two teams the favourites to advance to the Round of 16.
With Russia’s best player Kokorin out of the tournament, it isn’t looking hopeful for them to get past the group stages. Saudi Arabia do not have any world class talent to call upon, unlike Egypt who have Mo Salah. The season he has had with Liverpool should give him plenty of confidence going into the tournament and even if they lose to Uruguay, good results against the other teams will see them through. Uruguay’s stunning strike force of Suarez and Cavani should see them score plenty of goals and go far in the tournament.
