Salah fails to prevent Russia reducing Egypt to rubble

As expected, Egypt brought out the big guns in what was a must-win game for them. Star man Mo Salah wasn't risked against Uruguay, but after that game was lost, three points were needed to keep hopes of making the knockout stages alive, and Salah was named in the starting lineup. 

However, despite the excitement of the Liverpool forward's return, the first half was quite an underwhelming affair. Both sides had half-chances, but there was nothing to shout about for either team before the break. 

After the players came back out for the second period, though, things perked up significantly. Russia took the lead almost straight away, thanks to some calamitous defending from their opponents. 

The breakthrough came in the 47th minute, after Mohamed Elshenawy naively punched a cross, instead of catching. The ball was cleared, but it fell at the feet of Roman Zobnin, who lashed a shot into the box. The shot itself was off target, but when Ahmed Fathi attempted to clear, the Egyptian defender instead scuffed it into his own net, past the helpless limbs of the keeper, to make it 1-0.

Just over ten minutes later, the hosts doubled their lead, through Denis Cheryshev, who now has three goals in two games. The forward scored a goal that was much easier on the eye than the first, slotting home a nice finish from inside the box after Mario Fernandes cut it back for him.

 

June 19, 2018

At this points, Egypt crumbled. Russia had the crowd behind them, and they went for the jugular, scoring again three minutes later. This time it was target man Artem Dzyuba on the scoresheet, the Zenit forward fulfilling his role perfectly. The 1.94m man chested down a long ball on the edge of the area before walking straight through Ali Gabr and slotting it home to kill off the game.

Down by three goals, Egypt had to throw everything forward, and that they did, however futile it would end up being. Hector Cuper's side managed to bag themselves a consolation goal in the 73rd minute, thanks to a Mo Salah spot kick, awarded to him by VAR. 

The winger was brought down on the edge of the area, and initially awarded a free-kick, however the video assistant eventually ruled that the foul came inside the penalty area. Salah made no mistake with the penalty, firing above the keeper into the top right corner.

That's where the comeback ended for Egypt, though, and a 3-1 loss keeps them third in Group A, on zero points. Their World Cup dream is now all-but over, leaving fans rueing that fateful injury to Salah in the Champions League final.

Russia, meanwhile, are on the brink of securing themselves a spot in the final 16. Two wins from two games puts them atop the group, and they are now pretty certain to progress to the knockouts.

 

June 19, 2018