World Cup, Russia vs Egypt – as it happened: Hosts all but through to last-16, Pharaohs exit

Three more matches tomorrow. Portugal face Morocco, Iran meet Spain while lowly Saudi Arabia will welcome Luis Suarez’s Uruguay. See you, then. Ta-ta.

Meanwhile, Denis Cheryshev has scaled to the top of the goalscoring charts in this tournament, where is sits pretty alongside a certain Cristiano Ronaldo.

FULL-TIME: RUSSIA 3-1 EGYPT What a performance it was from Russia once again. They were clinical on the counter-attack and full deserved the win. They already have as many goals as Spain during their victorious 2010 campaign. Russia’s front four have looked fluent while their defence has given nothing away. Salah was sharp but may have been watchful of his knee. There is only so much one man can do, however good he is. Egypt were hard done by, especially in their tournament opener against Uruguay, where they should have got a point. Here, they were just blown away in the space of 15 second-half minutes.

90+3’ Warda falls down in the box hoping for a last-ditch attempt to get a penalty. The Russian flags are up in the air as the clock runs down to the full-time whistle.

90+1’ Egypt are throwing everything to get one back and create some late drama. The Russian defence is staunch.

89’ Egypt have a spell of good build-up play but it comes to an end with a meek shot from just outside the box from Warda.

87’ A desperate Salah tries to smash one from outside the box but the ball hits his own teammate and goes out of play.

85’ Zhirkov comes off, in comes Kudryashov. Russians patiently knocking the ball around and waiting for full-time.

83’ YELLOW CARD – unnecessary booking for Smolov. There was no need to violently tug onto an opponent’s shirt when you have a two-goal cushion.

80’ In what was another breakaway Russian move, Golovin got into a lovely pocket of space after being put through by Smolov. The midfielder was ponderous and the Egyptian defence saw out the danger.

78’ Dzyuba comes off to a thunderous ovation. In comes Smolov. Meanwhile, there are shouts from the Egyptians for another penalty. There was definite grappling on Marwan, as replays show.

75’ Russia continue to threaten during set pieces. Cheryshev is off and in comes Kuzayev. There was a header directed goalwards, which was deflected off an Egyptian defender but the ball went straight to the keeper.

Russia concede their first goal in the World Cup. Salah kissed the ball for luck and hammered it into the roof of the net. Akinfeev went the right way but there was no stopping those. Egypt need a couple of more of these.

72’ GOAL!! RUSSIA 3-1 EGYPT (MO SALAH)

PENALTY FOR EGYPT!

VAR TIME! The referee is checking for a penalty for Egypt. Salah went down in the box.

70’ There is a bit of an altercation between Hegazy and Cheryshev. The referee has a word with the players and sorts it out.

68’ The rain is pelting down at St Petersberg and Egypt’s hopes are fading. Frustration creeping into the Egyptian ranks

65’ Egypt hit back with a neat counter. Salah at the edge of the area sets up Marwan for a shot and the ball goes wide of the target. Only just.

Add another one to the tally. This could turn out to be an embarrassment for Hector Cuper’s side, who continue to look ragged at the back. Dzyuba was found with a low cross from the right and he had acres of space. The striker slotted home calmly with a lovely curler from the edge of the box. Russia well on their way to become the first team to qualify for the last-16. Who would have thought that?

62’ GOAL!! RUSSIA 3-0 EGYPT (Dzyuba)

Egypt are staring at the barrel now. The crowd is on its feet. Lovely work from Fernandes, who made the overlap and cut it back for Cheryshev, who was at the right place. It was the right time too as he sidefoots the ball home easily.

59’ GOAL!! RUSSIA 2-0 EGYPT (Denis Cheryshev)

56’ Trezeguet becomes the first player to receive a yellow card in the game for borderline violent play on Dyzuba.

55’ Mario Fernandes made a crucial block. Space opened up for Salah and he took a shot, it bounced off the defender’s backside. CLOSE

52’ Egypt supporters in the stands wear a glum look. Trezeguet makes a powerful run on the left flank but his left-foot cross was poor – into the stands.

50’ How will Egypt muster a response from here? Russia looking more confident on the ball and snuff out any trace of danger.

47’ What a crushing blow for Egypt! That should have never gone in. Goalkeeper ElShenewy was also perplexed just as the ball rolled into the net. The worse past was that the shot wasn’t even threatening. An outstretched right foot steered the ball into the net.

GOAL!! RUSSIA 1-0 RUSSIA (Fathi own goal)

45’ Trezeguet is in a little bit of pain as Dzyuba’s outstretched arm hits him. The players shake hands.

The second half is underway

You just cannot keep Mo Salah out of the game:

RUSSIA 0-0 EGYPT: Mo Salah was anonymous in the early stages but started to get into his element on the counter-attack in the final fifteen minutes.

Half-time: No stoppage time. The match has progressed at breakneck speed. There have been half-chances, nothing more. Russia started on the front foot but it was Egypt who looked the better team in the last ten minutes of the half.

Russia will know that they should have done better with the possession they had in the first quarter of the game.

43’ Neither side want to give an inch. It’s got a 1-1 or a 0-0 written all over it from how things have progressed so far. Replays show a little bit of grappling from both sets of players in the Egyptian box.

41’ Turn, twist, shot but wide. Salah’s first attempt and that wasn’t that far away from the keeper. The Liverpool winger completely took out Zhirkov with a deft touch. That could have gone in.

38’ Lovely counter-attack by Egypt as Salah comes into the game, playing a couple of one-twos with Marwan. Elneny gets the ball at the edge of the box and floats one in, but Marwan’s header lacked power. The Egyptian striker was taken out of the attack by the defence.

36’ Good play from Cheryshev. The winger dashes to the touchline, oupacing Elneny and delivers a deadly low cross. Alas, there was nobody there at the end of it.

34’ More attempts from Egypt. Marwan uses his strength to climb above the defence but his thundering header is well wide of the target.

33’ What a save by Zhirkov! The left-back put his foot down in the nick of time after a header from Abdelshafy was travelling towards Salah at the far post. That was close.

31’ Egypt patiently building up towards something. Not sure where they are going with this. There is a lot of sterile possession....sideways, back, front, sideways.

28’ We have had a scrappy few minutes after what was clever a cat-and-mouse tactical game between the two coaches.

24’ Dyzuba continues to be a target man for Cheryshev, Golovin, and Samedov. He almost El Shenawy for a cross but the keeper punched it away. Nervy stuff from Egypt again.

23’ More shots come raining in from Russia but none on target. The hosts need to be calmer in possession and invest more time on their build-up play.

21’ Once again, Salah is muscled off the ball. This looks very reminiscent of Argentina. Except Argentina don’t play long balls over the top.

18’ OOOH! Cheryshev leathers one after getting the ball 25 yards from goal. That wasn’t far away and the ball fizzed narrowly over the bar. That was travelling! Once again, there’s evidence that Egypt’s backline needs to be sorted out.

17’ ElShenawy gets the ball and launches a counter-attack with a long ball aimed at Salah. It was easily dealt with by the Russian defence.

15’ Trezeguet takes a shot from just inside the area and it goes just inches wide of the post. Egypt are slowly finding their feet in the game. That shot had fizz and was dipping. It missed the right-hand post by about three feet.

14’ CLOSE! Now the Russian defence is under pressure as the statuesque Marwan puts them under pressure. The red shirts somehow clear the ball.

12’ Finally, Salah gets a touch on the ball, plays a quick one-two and tries to shift it on his left. The shot, though, was blocked and Russia nearly broke the Egyptian defence into pieces on the counter. Frenetic start to proceedings.

11’ Samedov continues to look dangerous when on the ball. This time he sneaks his way into the flanks and delivered a low cross. Dyzuba was crowded out by the Egyptian defenders.

8’ Samedov is getting acres of space on the ball and is looking for Dyzuba. This is not looking good for Egypt. They need some inspiration, and quickly.

5’ Oooh! Egypt are in tatters at the back. Ignashevich gets a header from a cross which went straight into the keeper’s hands. Then they lost the ball immediately and in came a shot from distance that fizzed only narrowly wide of ElShenawy’s post.

4’ Egypt finally have a good spell on the ball but can’t do much. Russians have it and threaten. They win a corner after deciding that long-range shots will reward them today.

2’ Egypt are off to a nervous start and Dzyuba nearly go to the end of a low through ball and had acres of space to run into. Salah hasn’t got a touch on the ball.

The players have blared out the national anthems. The play is ready to get underway. Egypt are winless in seven games.

11:20 IST: The players are ready to come on to the pitch. It’s a packed house in St Petersberg that welcomes the two teams. As mentioned earlier, all eyes will be on Russia.

Russia: Akinfeev, Fernandes, Kutepov, Ignashevich, Zhirkov, Gazinskiy, Zobnin, Samedov, Golovin, Cheryshev, Dyzuba

Substitutes: Semenov, Kuzyaev, Smolov, Lunev, Kudryashov, Granat, Al Miranchuk, An Miranchuk, Gabulov, Erokhin, Smolnikov

Egypt: El Shenawy, Fathi, Hegazi, Gabr, Shafy, Elneny, Hamed. Salah, El-said, Trezeguet, Mohsen

Substitutes: El Hadary, Ekramy, Samir, Ashraf, Morsy, Gaber, Elmohamady, El-Wensh, Shikabala, Warda, Kahraba, Sobhi

Hello and welcome to the live updates of the Russia vs Egpyt game at St Petersburg on Tuesday. There is so much anticipation around Mohamed Salah’s return and manger Hector Cuper has answered the world’s calls, fielding him in the starting XI. Following their hearbreaking loss against Uruguay, the seven-time African champions need to get something out of this contest to stay alive in the competition. Even without Salah, Egypt, in patches impressed in patches against a strong Uruguay outfit.

With Salah, they are expected to show little more bite upfront and the Russian defence is expected to have a busy evening. The hosts, who attracted plenty of criticism before the start of the tournament, were in sparkling touch against Saudi Arabia, who they thrashed 5-0 on the opening day of the World Cup. Alexander Golovin and Denis Cheryshev, in all possibility, should keep the Egyptian full-backs on their toes.