This group looks to be an easier one with less chances of any kind of shock exit. Hosts Russia, along with Egypt will look to give Uruguay a tough fight, but the South American nation, who came second in the regional qualifying round will easily go through with star power and team at their disposal.
Uruguay led by Edison Cavani and Saurez are favourites to lay claim for the top honours in the group. The fight for the second spot will be very interesting. If current form is taken into consideration, Egypt will be the team that will scrape through but with Mo Salah doubtful for the group stages the current development can prove fatal for the African nation.
But, Russia for sure is not going to give up easily, that too in front of the home crowd. With a good mix of talent and experience they will look to make the best of their opportunity and home support is surely going to play a crucial role.
The most exciting tie in the group will take place on June 15 between Egypt and Uruguay in Yekaterinburg, which might pitch Saurez and Mo Salah against each other. But Salah's World Cup hopes still hangs in balance after his clash with Sergio Ramos in the Champions League final against Real Madrid. Early reports have confirmed that he will “only” be out for three weeks.
Then again June 19 will witness the most important match between Russia and Egypt, which might decide who takes the second spot in the group.
The Arab nation of Saudi Arabia are the under dogs in the group and will most probably will be the first nation to be knocked out.
Teams likely to progress: Uruguay and Egypt.
Squads:
Russia's 28-man preliminary squad: Igor Akinfeev, Vladimir Gabulov, Soslan Dzhanaev, Andrey Lunev; Vladimir Granat, Sergei Ignashevich, Fedor Kudryashov, Ilya Kutepov, Roman Neustadter, Konstantin Rausch, Andrey Semenov, Igor Smolnikov, Mario Fernandes; Yuri Gazinskiy, Alexsandr Golovin, Alan Dzagoev, Alexsandr Erokhin, Yuri Zhirkov, Daler Kuzyaev , Roman Zobnin, Alexsandr Samedov, Anton Miranchuk, Alexsandr Tashaev, Denis Cheryshev; Artem Dzyuba, Aleksey Miranchuk, Fedor Smolov, Fedor Chalov
Saudi Arabia's World Cup 2018 squad: Assaf Al-Qarny, Mohammed Al-Owais, Yasser Al-Musailem, Abdullah Al-Mayuf; Mansoor Al-Harbi, Yasser Al-Shahrani, Mohammed Al-Breik, Saeed Al-Mowalad, Motaz Hawsawi, Osama Hawsawi, Omar Hawsawi, Mohammed Jahfali, Ali Al-Bulaihi; Abdullah Al-Khaibari, Abdulmalek Al-Khaibri, Abdullah Otayf, Taiseer Al-Jassim, Houssain Al-Mogahwi, Salman Al-Faraj, Nawaf Al-Abed, Mohamed Kanno, Hattan Bahebri, Mohammed Al-Kwikbi, Salem Al-Dawsari, Yehya Al-Shehri; Fahad Al-Muwallad, Mohammad Al-Sahlawi, Muhannad Assiri
Egypt's 29-man preliminary squad: Essam El Hadary, Mohamed El-Shennawy, Sherif Ekramy, Mohamed Awad; Ahmed Fathi, Saad Samir, Ayman Ashraf, Mahmoud Hamdy, Mohamed Abdel-Shafy, Ahmed Hegazi and Ali Gabr, Ahmed Elmohamady, Karim Hafez, Omar Gaber, Amro Tarek; Tarek Hamed, Mahmoud Abdel Aziz, Shikabala, Abdallah Said, Sam Morsy, Mohamed Elneny, Kahraba, Ramadan Sobhi, Trezeguet, Amr Warda; Marwan Mohsen, Ahmed Gomaa, Kouka, Mohamed Salah
Uruguay's 26-man preliminary squad: Fernando Muslera, Martin Silva, Martin Campana, Diego Godin, Sebastian Coates, Jose Maria Gimenez, Maximiliano Pereira, Gaston Silva, Martin Caceres, Guillermo Varela, Nahitan Nandez, Lucas Torreira, Matias Vecino, Federico Valverde, Rodrigo Bentancur, Carlos Sanchez, Giorgian De Arrascaeta, Diego Laxalt, Cristian Rodriguez, Jonathan Urretaviscaya, Nicolas Lodeiro, Gaston Ramirez, Cristhian Stuani, Maximiliano Gomez, Edinson Cavani, Luis Suarez
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