Egyptian Power: Salah and company will check out the Russian national team

After the end of the club season, the Russian national team is in the spotlight of domestic football fans. Valery Karpin's team will play three friendly matches during the May-June training camp, and the program will open with a meeting with Egypt, which will be held on May 28 in Cairo. We are figuring out what to expect from the opponent and which of the Russians will get a chance to prove themselves in this game.

The long-awaited departure

The upcoming match with Egypt is unique for the Russian national team, at least from a geographical point of view. This will be the first away game for our guys in almost nine months. The last time Karpin's team visited Qatar, the match against the host country of the 2022 World Cup was held on September 7, 2025 and ended with a confident victory for the Russians (4:1).

Initially, it was assumed that the match with Egypt would be held in Cairo at the relatively young Misr stadium (with a maximum capacity of 93,940 spectators), commissioned in 2024, but on the morning of May 27, the official website of the Russian Football Union announced the transfer of the game to the Cairo International Stadium with a natural surface. It was opened back in 1960, but was later renovated twice — in 2005 and 2019. The arena currently holds up to 75,000 spectators.

According to the Egyptian Football Association, about 50,000 spectators are expected at the match.

Formally, the history of meetings between the national teams of Russia and Egypt has three matches. However, two of them took place against the U-23 Olympic team in September 2023, so we will not take them into account.

The main national teams had previously played only one match against each other. But what: on June 19, 2018, the home World Cup, St. Petersburg and a bright 3-1 victory, which gave the whole country a big football holiday associated with reaching the playoffs. Surely many of you, reading these lines, feel warm at heart from pleasant memories of one of the two best eras in the history of modern Russian football.

Checking in for Salah

The Russian national team will be a good sparring partner for Egypt ahead of the FIFA World Cup, which will be held in the USA, Canada and Mexico. In the group stage, the Egyptians will play with the national teams of Belgium, New Zealand and Iran. In addition to the Russian national team, the Brazilian national team will be another opponent of Egypt in a friendly match before the World Cup.

The Egyptian national team will announce the final squad for the World Cup on May 29. One player will be excluded from the preliminary list. And it is unlikely that it will be one of the two most star representatives of the national team playing in the English Premier League - 33-year—old winger Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) or 27-year-old central striker Omar Marmoush (Manchester City). Together, they are estimated by the Transfermarkt portal at €90 million. With the total cost of the entire team at €135.43 million, this amount looks impressive.

But there is a caveat: Marmush, despite his cost, is not the main center forward in City. There, the ball is ruled by Norwegian Erling Holland, whose value is estimated at 200 million euros. And Holland's statistics in the last season of the Premier League are also space: 27 goals in 35 matches. Marmush mostly came on as a substitute and spent a modest 699 minutes on the field in 21 league matches, scoring three goals. Nevertheless, for the defenders of the Russian national team, a forward with experience in the Premier League and the Champions League will be a good test. Even with such statistics.

Southern appearance: the Russian national team has decided on the opponents for May and June

For the first time since last year, our team will play away.

Salah is already a veteran in the Egyptian national team. Age makes itself felt, including on the football field. Last season, Mo scored fewer than 10 goals (7) for the first time in his career with Liverpool, although he played just as regularly (27 matches, 2150 minutes). For comparison: A season earlier, Mohamed had 29 goals in 38 games. And before that, the 2023/24 season was considered "anti-record" for him, when the Egyptian scored "only" 18 goals in 32 matches. Salah recently announced his retirement from Liverpool, so he is approaching the new season as a free agent. According to rumors, he may continue his career at Juventus, Roma, Al-Hilal or one of the American MLS clubs.

Salah will definitely make some noise in big-time football and will certainly do his best to prove himself at the World Cup. And the match against Russia will be a good preparation for him. There is no doubt that Mohamed will play, as Mustafa Azzam, Secretary General of the Egyptian Football Association, confirmed.

Without Safonov, but with the talent from Manchester United

As for the Russian national team, Valery Karpin has called up 32 players for the upcoming matches. Initially, Dmitry Vorobyov from Lokomotiv was among the attackers, but on May 23 he was suspended for medical reasons. Instead of Vorobyov, Karpin called Ivan Sergeev from Dynamo Moscow.

When looking at the composition of the goalkeeper team, the question immediately arises: "Where is Matvey Safonov?" He is preparing with PSG for the Champions League final against Arsenal in London, which will be held on May 30 in Budapest. According to Karpin, who personally spoke with Matvey, Safonov "will find it psychologically difficult to rebuild after such a final," because if the outcome is successful for the club, there will be euphoria after the victory, and in case of defeat there will be a huge disappointment.

The call-up of midfielder Amir Ibragimov to the national team deserves special attention. The 18-year—old native of Dagestan is the captain and one of the leaders of the Manchester United youth team. This season, Ibragimov played in the Premier League for players under the age of 18 and scored 3+3 points in the goal+pass system in 11 matches. Amir also played in the match against Manchester City in the Premier League-2, as part of the United team under the age of 21. At this rate, the adult team is not far away.

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Ibragimov himself, commenting on his arrival in the national team, said that it had always been a dream for him to play for the country where he was born. Who knows, perhaps now we will witness the beginning of Amir's great journey to the status of the leader of the Russian national team, when we will be returned to international competitions.

On the evening of May 27, it became known that Alexander Golovin, Konstantin Tyukavin, Danil Prutsev, Lechi Sadulaev and Maxim Osipenko would also be unable to perform due to various injuries.

The composition of the national team

Goalkeepers: Denis Adamov (Zenit), Anton Mitryushkin (Lokomotiv), Stanislav Agkatsev (Krasnodar), Alexander Maksimenko (Spartak).

Defenders: Alexander Silyanov, Evgeny Morozov (both from Lokomotiv), Ilya Vakhania, Viktor Melekhin (both from Rostov), Daniil Denisov (Spartak), Igor Diveev (Zenit), Kirill Danilov, Danil Krugovoy (both from CSKA), Mingiyan Beveev (Baltika").

Midfielders: Artem Karpukas, Alexey Batrakov (both from Lokomotiv), Matvey Kislyak, Ivan Oblyakov, Dmitry Barinov (all from CSKA), Nail Umyarov (Spartak), Amir Ibragimov (Manchester United, England), Anton Miranchuk (Dynamo Moscow), Alexey Miranchuk (Atlanta United, USA), Maxim Glushenkov (Zenit), Maxim Petrov (Baltika), Nikita Krivtsov (Krasnodar).

Forwards: Ivan Sergeev (Dynamo Moscow), Georgy Melkadze (Akhmat).