The round two of the World Cup will kick off with hosts Russia tackling African Representatives Egypt in the late kick off clash set for Saint-Petersburg Stadium.
Overview
Russia beat Saudi Arabia 5-0 in the opener. Heading to the tournament Russia were in poor form and had not won a game in 2018. One victory in their final two games will be enough to seal their place in the knockout stages.
Egypt suffered a 1-0 defeat against Uruguay. Mo Salah was surprisingly not involved, even though he was named on the bench for Egypt, their fans will hope that he is fit enough to play at least some part against Russia.
Head to head
This will be the first ever meeting between the two sides.
Russia
Russia are fresh from a 5-0 win against Saudi Arabia which was the biggest victory by a host nation in an opening game since Italy beat the USA 7-1 in 1934.
Scoring five in the opening clash saw the side beat their goal record in 2002 (scored two goals) and 2014 scored (four goals) Russia, they have failed to reach the knockout stage of the World Cup in three attempts (1994, 2002 and 2014).
Winning the second game in the World Cup has been a tall order for Russia, they have failed to pick a one in the last five. The last time the won a second match was in 1982 when they whipped New Zealand 3-0.
The side has not lost to African teams in the last the three meetings.
Egypt
Egypt will be in hunt for the first ever world cup win. They have played five matches at the competition drawing three and losing three times. They are the only African side to have the longest winless streak at the world Cup.
They have also failed to get a goal in the last three World Cup matches. Magdy Adbelghani was the last player to score for Egypt and his goal came from the penalty spot as they drew 1-1 with the Netherlands in 1990.
They have managed just one clean sheet in the World Cup 0-0 draw with the Republic of Ireland in June 1990.
Prediction
With the Mohammed Salah expected to make an appearance Egypt are expected to get on the scoresheet and the might end in a 1-1 draw.
Probable Line up Egypt
Probable Line up Russia
Full squads
EGYPT
Essam El Hadary, Mohamed El-Shennawy, Sherif Ekramy, Ahmed Fathi, Saad Samir, Ayman Ashraf, Mahmoud Hamdy, Mohamed Abdel-Shafy, Ahmed Hegazi, Ali Gabr, Ahmed Elmohamady, Omar Gaber, Tarek Hamed, Abdallah Said, Sam Morsy, Mohamed Elneny, Ramadan Sobhi, Mahmous Hassan, Marwan Mohsen, Shikabala, Amr Warda, Mahmoud Kahraba, Mohamed Salah
RUSSIA
Igor Akinfeev, Vladimir Gabulov, Andrey Lunev, Vladimir Granat, Fedor Kudryashov, Ilya Kutepov, Andrey Semenov, Sergei Ignashevich, Mario Fernandes, Igor Smolnikov, Yuri Gazinskiy, Alexsandr Golovin, Alan Dzagoev, Aleksandr Erokhin, Yuri Zhirkov, Daler Kuzyaev, Roman Zobnin, Alexsandr Samedov, Anton Miranchuk, Denis Cheryshev, Artem Dzyuba, Aleksey Miranchuk, Fedor Smolov.