A commanding second half puts Russia on brink of second round
Cheryshev and Dzyuba add to their Russia 2018 goal tallies
Mohamed Salah’s return fails to transform Egypt’s fortunes
Russia’s delight in their home World Cup continued after a hotly-contested clash with Egypt burst into life in the second half. After a frenetic opening period, lacking the chances the energy and endeavour warranted, Egypt captain Ahmed Fathi handed Russia a gift by deflecting into his own net – already the fifth own-goal at Russia 2018.
Denis Cheryshev and Artem Dzyuba then repeated their opening-match heroics by netting twice in three minutes to extinguish almost all of Egypt’s remaining hope. Mohamed Salah struck from the penalty spot, but the Pharaohs must rely on Saudi Arabia doing them a favour to keep their slender chance of progression alive.
Budweiser Man of the Match
Denis Cheryshev – Having picked up the award with his stellar showing in the opening game, the 27-year-old’s dream tournament got better with another impressive performance in the Russia midfield.
The stat
350 – Salah’s penalty came after a 350-minute goal drought for Egypt at the World Cup. Their last also came from a spot-kick, against the Netherlands in 1990, being scored by Magdy Abdelghani.
[team_standings id=”38303″ title=”Group A” number=”4″ columns=”p,w,d,l,gd,pts” show_team_logo=”1″ show_full_table_link=”0″ align=”none”]
What’s next
Uruguay v Russia – Group A, 25 June, Samara
Saudi Arabia v Egypt – Group A, 25 June, Volgograd
