The Egyptian national team on Monday started the final preparatory camp ahead of the 2018 World Cup that will kick off on 14 June in Russia. Egypt have been drawn in Group A at the world's most prestigious tournament alongside Uruguay, Saudi Arabia and host Russia. "The team gathered on Monday night for their first training session of the camp at Cairo International Stadium," the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) revealed in a statement via its official Facebook page. "All the selected players were available except Liverpool's Mohamed Salah and Aston Villa's Ahmed Elmohamady, who still have commitments with their clubs. Arsenal's injured midfielder Mohamed Elneny was available but just for rehabilitation trainings," the statement added. Late on March, Egypt lost to Portugal and Greece in the two friendly matches of the first training camp that was held in Switzerland. The Pharaohs, who reached the World Cup competition for the first time since 1990, will play three other warm-up games before the tournament. The team will travel to Kuwait on Wednesday ahead of facing the Kuwaiti rivals on 25 May, then a week later will face Colombia in the Italian city of Bergamo and finally will face Belgium in Brussels on 6 June. Egypt will kick-off their Group A games against Uruguay on 15 June, four days before facing hosts Russia and then ending the group stage against Saudi Arabia on 25 June. (For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)