Salah fitness uncertain as Egypt arrive in Russia
Tunisia could spring surprise: Martinez
GROZNY, Russia, June 10, (Agencies): Egypt’s Mohamed Salah arrived in Russia Sunday, with the Pharaohs hopeful the star striker can complete a dramatic injury comeback in time for their opening World Cup match against Uruguay.
Salah and his teammates touched down in Grozny ahead of Egypt’s third appearance at the World Cup, ending a drought stretching back to 1990.
The seven-time African champions play their opening Group A fixture on Friday, June 15, against Uruguay.
“The team is ready for the competition and morale is high,” national team manager Ihab Leheta told AFP at the Grozny International Airport.
The Pharaohs have never progressed beyond the group stages and Salah is seen as crucial to their chances of making an impression at the tournament in Russia.
The goal-scoring talisman has been sidelined since exiting Liverpool’s 3-1 Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid in tears after injuring his shoulder when Sergio Ramos wrestled him to the ground.
But such has been his form for the English Premiership club — 44 goals in all competitions for the season — that he has been included in Egypt’s squad even though there is no guarantee he will play.
A handout picture released on June 10, by the Egyptian Civil Aviation Ministry shows the members of Egypt’s national football team posing for a group photo before boarding their plane to attend the 2018 FIFA World Cup in
Russia, at Cairo International Airport. (AFP)
Team doctor Mohamed Abou al-Ela told ON Sport TV on Saturday night that they would make an assessment on Salah’s ability to play early this week.
“We won’t be able to tell until after two days,” he said, declining to give any more details. “We will not have him play unless he has totally recovered.”
On May 30, Egypt officials said Salah would be out for “not more” than three weeks, which would rule him out of the Uruguay match but put him in the frame for Russia on June 19 and Saudi Arabia on June 25.
The player attended Egypt’s final training session in Cairo on Saturday night but did not take part, restricting himself to briefly dribbling the ball on the corner of the pitch.
Belgium coach Roberto Martinez said Tunisia’s unlucky defeat by his native Spain on Saturday proved the North Africans could be one of the surprises of the World Cup in Russia.
Belgium, third in the FIFA rankings, go into the World Cup as Group G favourites, facing Tunisia, England and Panama.
Martinez told reporters Monday’s final warm-up game at home to Costa Rica would be a good test of his side’s ability to cope with less-fancied Panama in their opening group game a week later, before they faced England in Kaliningrad on June 28.
Like the “technically extremely strong” Tunisians, the Central American outsiders could also threaten to disrupt a team packed with top European league talent.
Asked about Tunisia’s 1-0 friendly defeat by Spain, Martinez said on Sunday: “Yesterday, for me, they deserved to win the game... It was just a confirmation that Tunisia could be one of the surprises in the World Cup.”
Monday’s outing in Brussels against Costa Rica, who have also qualified this time and were surprise quarterfinalists in Brazil in 2014, would give Belgium’s team of individual talents a chance to test their collective resilience against a Panama side with nothing to lose in their first ever World Cup finals.
“Maybe Panama get inspiration from what Costa Rica did in 2014 in Brazil,” Martinez said. “There’s no fear in the performances of CONCACAF teams.
“They are quite happy to trust each on the pitch... If we are not a team in difficult moments during the game these teams can really hurt you.”