FIFA World Cup 2018
World Cup 2018: Hosts Russia Continue To Impress, See Off Egypt
World Cup 2018 Hosts Russia continued to impress on Tuesday, seeing off Egypt in Match Day 2 of Group A. The Russian team, visibly inspired by playing at home, won 3-1 in St. Petersburg Stadium. The hosts are now on the brink of progressing to the knockout rounds having won 6 of a possible 6 points in the group scoring 8 goals and conceding only 1.
Egypt however, now face elimination and will hope Saudi Arabia can pull an upset tomorrow against Uruguay effectually keeping their hopes alive. Star player Mohammed Salah started the match after sitting out of their opening match loss to Uruguay. The Liverpool forward has been recovering from his famous shoulder injury picked up in the UCL Final back in May. Despite winning and scoring a penalty in the 73rd minute, he could not see his side past a fired up Russian team.
Summary
Russia posed the bigger threat for in the first half although players from both sides Trézéguet and Cheryshev missed by inches. Salah was put through in the box with a half-chance right before halftime but his shot went wide. Halftime found the score 0-0 but early in the second period, Russia saw the fruits of their pressure forcing an own goal by Ahmed Fathi.
After Salah saw his shot blocked in the 55th minute, Denis Cheryshev made it 2-0 with a wonderful effort. This made the Russian forward joint top scorer with Cristiano Ronaldo in the tournament. Surprising, considering we may not have seen him feature if not for Alan Dzagoev’s injury on Matchday 1. Artem Dzyuba made it 3-0 minutes later before Salah’s penalty concluded the scoring.
Next Up
The Russians complete group play on Monday taking on Uruguay in Samara. The Egyptians will finish against Saudi Arabia at the same time in Volgograd. A victory for Uruguay on Wednesday would see Russia progress to the knockout rounds for the first time since they were called USSR and would see Egypt go home.
Match Facts
