Egypt get ball rolling as Africa prepare for World Cup

Egypt face Kuwait Saturday in the first of 15 warm-up 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 armor 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 colors 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.

Senegal, making a second appearance after reaching the 2002 quarter-finals, play in Luxembourg and Croatia before meeting South Korea behind closed doors at an Austrian venue to be announced.

----AFP, Johannesburg