Saint Petersburg, June 20, 2018 (News Wires0 - Russia's delight in their home FIFA World Cup continued after a hotly-contested clash with Egypt burst into life in the second half. After a frenetic opening period, lacking the chances the energy and endeavour warranted, Egypt captain Ahmed Fathi handed Russia a gift by deflecting into his own net – already the fifth own-goal at Russia 2018. Denis Cheryshev and Artem Dzyuba then repeated their opening-match heroics by netting twice in three minutes to extinguish almost all of Egypt's remaining hope. Mohamed Salah struck from the penalty spot, but the Pharaohs must rely on Saudi Arabia doing them a favour to keep their slender chance of progression alive. After a very even and intense opening, the tide turned with those goals straight after the break. Although the first was bad luck for the Egypt captain, after that there was nothing fortunate about Russia's three-goal lead. Two great moves sealed the victory: a beautiful run and a pass from Mario Fernandes to help Cheryshev score his third of the tournament, before some great technique from Dzyuba in the box capped off the night. Salah may have jangled some nerves, but the victory was deserved.? It was a justified win for Russia and ultimately Egypt suffered a deserved defeat, having not produced what was necessary. Most of the players didn't perform as expected and the goals came from some naive defensive mistakes. Most importantly, the Egyptian team lacked the offensive courage needed. The performance did not reflect the importance of the game and leaves their second round hopes hanging by a thread. "The game was 94 minutes, and we had 10 to 15 very bad minutes, and that was the reason we lost," said Egypt's Argentine manager, Héctor C?per. "What would have happened if he (Salah) had been in top form in both matches?" C?per asked after Egypt's loss on Tuesday. "That is very hard to say." He paused, gathered his thoughts, then added: "I always say, behind a brilliant player, or two brilliant players, there has to be a team." C?per, Salah and Egypt are now left with dreams of what might have been. With two losses in two games here, they have virtually no chance of advancing to the knockout round. All that remains, most likely, is a final group-stage match against Saudi Arabia on Monday.
