Today might be one of those games where players have a go from 40 yards because why the hell not, forwards might attempt to dribble the length of the pitch just to see if they can, and nobody should really be too fired up.
The points should go to Egypt, who have a far better organised defence and more creative forwards but if Saudi Arabia can get some of those passing moves they used in the early stages of the Russia game on show, might pull of a surprise win.
Team news will be in soon and we'll bring you that and live coverage and analysis of the rest of the game.
TO READ
As we work our way towards kick off, here are some things you can read to wamr up your World Cup appetite.
Germany, once again, find an extra inch to win. Also bringing Gary Lineker to alter his famous words.
It is going to be mentor vs ex-prodigy when Iran face Portugal. A pre-cursor to the Group B game later tonight
We do a quick recap of the second round of games - best goal, best team, best player, best game. Agree?
Saudi Arabia (0-0-2, 0 points) vs. Egypt (0-0-2, 0 points)
Group A, Volgograd Stadium, Volgograd
Halftime: 1-1
Well that was an interesting final few minutes, no?
Goal!
Ali Gabr brings down Almuwallad in the penalty box, and referee Wilmar Roldan awards the penalty shot for Saudi Arabia. But the VAR crew asks that Roldan take a look at the play on the replay monitor — it frankly was a pretty soft call — and he confirms it.
This time, Salman Alfaraj takes the shot for Saudi Arabia and El-Hadary is completely fooled. It’s 1-1.
Oh my, El-Hadary!
After Ahmed Fathi commits a hand ball in the box, Fahad Almuwallad steps up to take the penalty shot but Essam El-Hadary — at 45, the oldest player in World Cup history — makes the save! He got his left hand on it and the ball banged off the crossbar.
El-Hadary appeared to get a little banged up on the play but he’s up and around.
Goal!
Salah opens the scoring in the 22nd minute. After a wonderful outlet from Said, he gets ahead of two Saudi defenders and loops it over Almosailem, who had wandered far off his line with his center backs beaten badly. 1-0 Egypt.
Mo Salah puts Egypt on the board with a delicate chip! The Pharaohs take an early 1-0 lead against Saudi Arabia. #KSAEGY pic.twitter.com/OxzdM9M6sB — FOX Sports (@FOXSports) June 25, 2018
Minutes later, Salah gets another great chance (perhaps because he was offside) but bungles the finish, sending it wide.
Opening thoughts
We’ve reached the point of the group stage where we start to see games featuring already eliminated teams. This one, sadly, has two of them. Saudi Arabia and Egypt — outscored by a combined 10-1 — meet simply hoping to acquire a statistically meaningless three points and not suffer the indignity of finishing 32nd of 32 World Cup teams.
Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah, expected to be one of the stars of the World Cup before suffering a shoulder injury while playing for Liverpool in the Champions League final, clearly was hindered by his lack of training in last week’s loss to Russia, though he did manage a penalty-kick goal. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, improved from its dismal showing in a 5-0 debut loss to Russia, keeping Uruguay somewhat in check in the 1-0 defeat that followed. But it obviously would like to avoid another scoreless World Cup like in 2002, when it was outscored 12-0 in three group-stage matches.
[Uruguay vs. Russia 2018 World Cup: Can hosts retain momentum?]
The lineups
Saudi Arabia: Almosailem; O. Hawsani, Alburayk, Alshahrani, M. Hawsani; Alfaraj, Bahbir, Otayf, Almoqahwi, Aldawsari; Almuwallad.
Egypt: El-Hadary; Gabr, Hegazy, Fathi, Abdelshafy; Hamed, Elneny; Said, Treziguet, Salah; Mohsen.
There was some confusion over whether Mohamed Salah would take the field for Egypt on Monday after news surfaced that he would no longer play for the national team over his discomfort with being used as a political prop. The confusion mounted Monday when Egypt’s starting lineup first came out and didn’t feature Salah’s name on it. But the Liverpool star was on the list when FIFA released the official starting lineups later Monday morning.
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When: Monday, 10 a.m. Eastern.
How to watch on TV: FS1.
How to stream online: Fox Sports and the Fox Soccer Match Pass apps and FoxSportsGo.com.
How to watch in Spanish: Universo.
How to watch in Canada: Bell Media’s TSN and CTV networks, the TSN GO app and TSN.ca/live.
Team profiles
Saudi Arabia (0-0-2, 0 points)
Previous results: Lost to Russia, 5-0. Lost to Uruguay, 1-0.
What’s at stake: Nothing but pride. Saudi Arabia has been eliminated from knockout-stage contention.
Notable: Saudi Arabia is looking to win its first World Cup game since 1994. It has gone 0-2-9 in four appearances since then.
FIFA world ranking: 67. ELO world ranking: 69.
Egypt (0-0-2, 0 points)
Previous results: Lost to Uruguay, 1-0. Lost to Russia, 3-1.
What’s at stake: Nothing but pride. Egypt has been eliminated from knockout-stage contention.
Notable: Egypt still has never won a World Cup game. It had two draws in 1990.
FIFA world ranking: 45. ELO world ranking: 56.
Player to watch
With nothing tangible to play for, Egypt Manager Hector Cuper will start Essam El-Hadary in goal after going with Mohamed Elshenawy the first two games. At 45, El-Hadary is now the oldest player to see the field in a World Cup match, besting the mark set by former Colombia goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon (43) four years ago.
Read more about the World Cup from The Post:
Complete schedule, standings and results
How foreign-born players put the ‘world’ in World Cup
Don’t blame Lionel Messi for Argentina’s struggles. Blame the coach.
Germany, pushed to an unfamiliar brink, keeps World Cup hopes alive with stunning goal
Belgium trounces Tunisia and sends a message to the World Cup
El Tri moves closer to advancing with 2-1 win
Saudi Arabia and Egypt are playing in a token World Cup match after both teams were consigned to an early exit after losing their opening two games.
Mohamed Salah responded to claims his World Cup was over on Twitter, writing: “Everyone in Egypt is together and there is absolutely no disagreement between us. We respect each other and the relationship is great.”
The Liverpool and Egypt sensation missed Egypt’s first game against Uruguay and looked a shadow of the player he was in the 2018-19 season against Russia.
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Live Updates
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HALF-TIME - Saudi Arabia 1 Egypt 1: GOAL! 45+6 mins: GOAL! SAUDI ARABIA 1 EGYPT 1: Salman Al Faraj takes responsibility this time, and makes no mistake! Left-footed, he sends Essam El-Hadary the wrong way to level the game up at the break. 45+4 mins: VAR REVIEW! SAUDI ARABIA 0 EGYPT 1: In first half injury time, referee Wilmar Roldan awards Saudi Arabia a second penalty after Ali Gabr is adjudged to have pulled Fahad Al Muwallad's shirt inside the penalty area. Both players have got hold of each other, and again it seems harsh. The official is convinced to consult the video monitors on the side of the pitch and, after doing so, sticks with his original decision! It will be another spotkick to the Saudis! HALF-TIME - Uruguay 2 Russia 0: 41 mins: MISSED PENALTY! SAUDI ARABIA 0 EGYPT 1:
The old man has done it! A brilliant save from Essam Elhadary denies Al Muwallad Al-Harbi from the penalty spot! The 45-year-old flung himself to his right to tip the striker's spotkick on to the post and away to safety. It's justice done after the decision to award the penalty appeared harsh, Ahmed Fathi adjudged to have handled Yasser Al-Shahrani's cross despite having his back to the play. There might not be anything riding on this game, but that save is one of the great World Cup moments! RED CARD! 36 mins: RED CARD! URUGUAY 2 RUSSIA 0: Russia's job has just got much, much harder. Booked just eight minutes earlier for a foul on Vecino, Igor Smolnikov has just launched himself into a sliding challenge to stop Laxalt. The midfielder, however, had too much speed for the right-back, and once contact brought down the Uruguayan in full flight, referee Malang Diedhiou had no other option than to show a second yellow card and then a red. 30 mins: Uruguay 2 Russia 0: Russia are in danger of being blown away here, just in the manner that they dished out to Saudi Arabia and Egypt in their opening two games. Suarez is causing no end of trouble for the hosts' immobile defence with his pace, and is so close to finding a way past Akinfeev before Rodrigo Bentancur's follow up shot was blocked. 24 mins: Saudi Arabia 0 Egypt 1: A terrible miss from Mo Salah! The Egypt forward should be celebrating two goals in as many minutes having been sent clear on goal, but he inexplicable chipped wide with just Al-Mosailem to beat. That said, replays suggest that Salah was offside when the ball was played so VAR would have undoubtedly involved themselves had the shot gone in. GOAL! 23 mins: GOAL! URUGUAY 2 RUSSIA 0: A second for Uruguay! There's a touch of good fortune about it as an outswinging corner from the right evades everyone to land at the feet of Diego Laxalt 20 yards from goal. The Genoa midfielder lined up a strike that was heading for the far corner before clattering into both Denis Cheryshev and Ilya Kutepov to find its way in at the near post. Laxalt will claim it for now but it may ultimately go down in the record books as an own-goal. GOAL! 22 mins: GOAL! SAUDI ARABIA 0 EGYPT 1: Mohamed Salah has another World Cup goal, and Egypt lead in Volgograd! Abdallah El Said's long ball through the middle had the Liverpool forward on red alert, and he escaped between two Saudi Arabia defenders before nonchalantly lobbing over goalkeeper Yasser Al-Mosailem 20 mins: Uruguay 1 Russia 0: It takes a lot to force a coach to hobble to the edge of his technical area on one crutch, but Fyodor Kudryashov's late challenge on Nandez has just done that. 13 mins: Uruguay 1 Russia 0: The Russians hit straight back at Uruguay after falling behind with Artem Dzyuba nodding down for Cheryshev to shoot. Goalkeeper Fernando Muslera managed to block with his body, but still needed the help of his defender, Diego Godín, to turn the ball behind for a corner. GOAL! 10 mins: GOAL! URUGUAY 1 RUSSIA 0: Uruguay lead the hosts in Samara! Luis Suarez showed pace and trickery to race down the left, only for his cross to Edinson Cavani in the middle to be cut out. Rodrigo Bentancur picked up possession outside the Russian box but, before he could get his shot away, he was taken out by the sliding tackle of Yury Gazinsky. The Krasnador man was booked for his involvement, but worse was to come for the host nation. Utilising a gap in the wall created by Sergei Ignashevich being dragged out of position, Suarez fired a right-footed effort low into the bottom corner of Igor Akinfeev's net. As it stands, Uruguay top Group A with maximum points. 8 mins: Uruguay 0 Russia 0: A mistake by Nahitan Nandez in midfield allows Russia to threaten an attack for the first time, and...the noise, my word, the noise. The roar from the crowd demands better from Denis Cheryshev, who runs possession straight into the covering Sebastian Coates. 3 mins: Uruguay 0 Russia 0: Both teams may have sealed their progress already but there is no let up in the early stages at the Samara Arena. The shots are raining in and the tackles are flying about. After Matias Vecino let fly with a 30 yard thunderbolt that had Igor Akinfeev scampering across his goal to see wide, Edinson Cavani was laid out with a fierce challenge from Igor Smolnikov. The intensity of the game is matched by the noise from the stands, and Senegalese referee Malang Diedhiou just has a word with some of the players to suggest they calm things down. KICK-OFF: The referees in Samara and Volgograd wait for the signal, and once it arrives both games in Group A begin at the same time. Unfortunately, ITV don't quite commit to the same standards and their live ITV4 stream of the match between Saudi Arabia and Egypt begins a good two minutes after Uruguay and Russia get going on the main channel. Uruguay and Russia are the two best teams in Group. Uruguay and Russia may well have the two best national anthems at this World Cup. I'm yet to hear better. The teams are out, both in Samara and Volgograd. We'll have all the action from both Group A fixtures for you as it happens. The oldest keeper in town has been speaking ahead of his landmark moment. Aleksandr Golovin has been Russia's star performer at this World Cup so far but, with qualification assured, he misses out this afternoon. The CSKA playmaker picked up a booking in the opening day thumping of Saudi Arabia - to go with his goal and two assists - and so is one caution away from suspension. Next
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What time is it?
Saudi Arabia vs Egypt kicks off at 15:00 at the Vologorad Arena.
Where can I watch it?
ITV will be showing live coverage on ITV 4 and online on the ITV hub.
Odds
Saudi Arabia: 5/6
Egypt: 15/4
Draw: 13/5
Prediction
0-0. There’s very little to play for and even less quality on show. Even if Egypt start with Salah, who has shown he is clearly unfit, they lack the creativity to break down defences, including teams a poor as Saudi Arabia.
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