Coach – Hector Cuper: The Argentinian coach was appointed manager of Egypt in 2015 and if his record is anything to go by, the African team may be in for a dream tournament. During his career Cuper has finished runner-up in the Copa del Rey, European Cup Winners Cup, Serie A and Champions League twice.

Legend – Essam El-Hadary: Mohamed Salah may well be occupying this section in years to come but he is yet to win an African Cup of Nations with Egypt. El-Hadary has won four and not only was the mercurial goalkeeper named in the team of the tournament three times, he did not concede a single goal across those three tournaments. He is the most decorated player in Egypt’s history and was once described by Didier Drogba as his “toughest opponent”.

Star Man – Mohamed Salah: The star player for The Pharaohs is the man dubbed the “Egyptian Messi”. Salah has had a phenomenal season for Liverpool, ending the campaign with the Golden Boot and the PFA Player of the Year award. Six goals has been enough to win the Golden Boot in nine of the last ten World Cups and realistically Salah could reach that total fairly quickly. Russia have not played a competitive game for two years, Uruguay conceded 20 goals in qualifying while Saudi Arabia conceded ten goals in ten games in the Asian qualifiers.

Did you know? In 1934, Egypt became the first African team to qualify for a World Cup.

Fun Fact: Mohamed Salah scored over 40% of Egypt’s goals in their qualifying campaign.

Qualifying: Egypt finished Group E winners with a game to spare to book their place in Russia.

Group E Fixtures: Uruguay (1pm, June 15, Ekaterinburg), Russia (7pm, June 19, St Petersburg), Saudi Arabia (3pm, June 25, Volgograd)

Egypt squad

Goalkeepers: Essam El-Hadary (Al Taawoun), Mohamed El-Shennawy (Al Ahly), Sherif Ekramy (Al Ahly).

Defenders: Ahmed Fathi (Al Ahly), Saad Samir (Al Ahly), Ayman Ashraf (Al Ahly), Mohamed AbdelShafy (Al Fath), Ahmed Hegazi (West Brom), Ali Gabr (West Brom), Ahmed Elmohamady (Aston Villa), Omar Gaber (LAFC), Mahmoud Hamdy El-Wensh (Zamalek).

Midfielders: Tarek Hamed (Zamalek), Mahmoud Abdel-Razik Shikabala (Al Raed), Abdallah El-Said (Al Ahli), Sam Morsy (Wigan), Mohamed Elneny (Arsenal), Mahmoud Kahraba (Ittihad), Ramadan Sobhi (Stoke City), Mahmoud Trezeguet (Kasimpasa), Amr Warda (Atromitos).

Forwards: Marwan Mohsen (Al Ahly), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool).

Egypt profile

They have made just two World Cup finals appearances in 14 attempts, so Egypt will be looking forward to lining up at Russia 2018.

Four wins and a draw were enough to progress to the finals, where they will be alongside Russia, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay in Group A.