Egypt get ball rolling as Africa prepares for WC

JOHANNESBURG: Egypt face Kuwait Saturday (today) in the first of 15 warm-up football matches the five African qualifiers for the World Cup will play ahead of the June 14 kick-off in Russia.

The Egyptians, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia have three fixtures each to iron out chinks in their armour and fine-tune tactics ahead of the global football showpiece.

Egypt must do without talisman Mohamed Salah in Kuwait City as he will be playing for Liverpool against title-holders Real Madrid the same day in the UEFA Champions League final.

Another potential World Cup star, Sadio Mane of Senegal, will also be in Liverpool colours as they try to prevent Real winning a third consecutive Champions League title.

After Kuwait, an Egyptian squad coached by Argentine Hector Cuper head for Europe to meet Colombia in Milan and star-stacked Belgium in Brussels

Morocco, back at the World Cup after a 20-year absence, tackle non-World Cup qualifiers Ukraine and Slovakia in Swiss city Geneva before taking on Estonia in Tallinn.

Nigeria are the only African qualifiers to play a warm-up in the continent, hosting the Democratic Republic of Congo in Port Harcourt this Monday.

The ‘Super Eagles’ then face England at Wembley and the Czech Republic in Austria before heading for Russia, the first east European hosts of the World Cup.