World Cup 2018: Egypt's coach explain why Salah miss their first game

Mohamed Salah was on the bench in Egypt’s opening World Cup defeat against Uruguay on Friday because the team did not want to risk further injury to the Liverpool star.

Salah, who turns 26 today, injured his shoulder three weeks ago in Liverpool’s Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid.

On the eve of the Uruguay match in Yekaterinburg, which the South Americans won 1-0, Egypt coach Hector Cuper said Salah was fit, raising the Pharoahs’ hopes that he would start the Group A clash.

Cuper quoted 'He’s certainly important, nobody can deny that, but we need a good team too, and we are a good team. 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. 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.' 

The Egyptians will be playing their next game against Russia the host nation on the 19th of June.