FIFA World Cup 2018: Headstart for Uruguay

Yekaterinburg: Jose Gimenez was the unlikely 89th-minute match winner as Uruguay defeated an Egypt side shorn of star man Mohamed Salah 1-0 in their World Cup opener on Friday.

Uruguay’s deserved last-gasp victory leaves them and Russia in early control in Group ‘A’ after the hosts’ 5-0 mauling of Saudi Arabia in the tournament opener on Thursday.

A poor game looked likely to end in stalemate but with Uruguay cranking up the pressure late on, defender Gimenez rose to power a header into the top corner and break Egypt hearts.

It also stopped the rot for Uruguay in World Cup opening games — the South Americans had not won their first match in the tournament since 1970.

“This is football and in terms of history, we broke the spell,” Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez said.

“When the players came back from the (pre-game) warm-up normally we have a chat and we said to them, ‘All of Uruguay wants the same as us — to win this match, but you are the only ones who can make that happen,” he added.

Aside from Liverpool ace Salah failing to get off the bench with his shoulder injury, another major talking point was also off the pitch — large portions of empty seats in one main stand at the Yekaterinburg Arena were an embarrassing sight for the organisers.

Paris Saint-Germain striker Edinson Cavani had a couple of half-chances for Uruguay in the first half, the best made by himself when he juggled the ball and lashed it on the volley from outside the box, but it was deflected over.

Attacking partner Luis Suarez — in his first World Cup appearance since his biting ban of 2014 — was largely quiet in an unremarkable first period, doing his best work when he drifted between the lines of Egypt’s defence and midfield. Marwan Mohsen played as a lone forward for Egypt, but with Salah missing and Uruguay skipper Diego Godin imperious, he hardly had a sniff.

One of the biggest cheers came after 30 minutes when the stadium screens showed Salah happily chatting away on the bench but that is where the birthday boy — who turned 26 on Friday — remained.

With Egypt coach Hector Cuper saying on the eve of the clash that Salah had recovered from the injury sustained three weeks ago in the Champions League final, Egyptians will be desperately hoping their talisman is back for the game with Russia on Tuesday, now a must-win.

The north Africans, contesting their first World Cup since 1990, were for the main part fairly comfortable in defence and Arsenal’s Mohamed Elneny was a constant presence at the base of Egypt’s midfield.

Suarez, who had a frustrating afternoon, forced goalkeeper Mohamed Elshenawy into a decent stop straight after half-time, the Barcelona striker slamming his boot into an advertising board in anger.

He thumped the turf on 73 minutes when Elshenawy smothered at his feet, and seven minutes from the end the stopper was at it again, palming Cavani’s drive over. Cavani then struck a post with a free-kick as Egypt held on with increasing desperation, before Gimenez’s dramatic late intervention.

Meanwhile, Egypt coach said he benched Salah because the team did not want to risk further injury to the Liverpool star.

“He's certainly important, nobody can deny that, but you need a good team too — and we are a good team,” said Cuper.

“If Mo had been on the pitch it may have been different but we can’t know that. He did not play today because we wanted to avoid risk or danger but I think that he will be fine for the next match,” said the coach.

“Yesterday we were quite certain that he would play. At the end of training he was examined in depth and there was some doubt if he fell or was hit by another player. We thought perhaps he might get another injury and we want to avoid that so we decided not to take that risk,” Cuper said.