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Egypt and Uruguay get their 2018 World Cup campaigns started on Friday with a Group A match inside Central Stadium in Yekaterinburg.
In the United States, the game is scheduled to start at 8 a.m. ET and will be broadcast nationally on Fox Sports 1 (English broadcast) and Telemundo (Spanish broadcast). If you don’t have cable or can’t get to a TV, you can watch the game–and every other World Cup game–live on your computer, phone or streaming device by signing up for one of the following cable-free, live-TV streaming services:
In addition to a Netflix-like on-demand streaming library, Hulu also offers a bundle of live TV channels, including both Fox Sports 1 and Telemundo. You can sign up for “Hulu with Live TV” right here, and you can then watch every World Cup game live on your computer via the Hulu website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the Hulu app.
If you can’t watch the game live, “Hulu with Live TV” also comes with 50 hours of Cloud DVR storage (with the ability to upgrade to “Enhanced Cloud DVR,” which gives you 200 hours of DVR space and the ability to fast forward through commercials), allowing you to watch any game after it airs.
Fox Sports 1 and Telemundo are both included in the “Fubo Premier” bundle, which has a channel package that is largely tailored towards international soccer fans. You can sign up for a free 7-day trial right here, and you can then watch any World Cup game live on your computer via the FuboTV website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the FuboTV app.
If you can’t watch the game live, FuboTV comes with 30 hours of Cloud DVR (with the ability to upgrade to 500 hours), as well as a “72-Hour Lookback” feature, which allows you to watch any World Cup game up to three days after it airs even if you forgot to record it.
Fox Sports 1 (but not Telemundo) is included in the “Sling Blue” package. You can sign up for a free 7-day trial of both, and you can then watch any World Cup game live on your computer via the Sling TV website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the Sling TV app.
If you can’t watch a game live, you can get 50 hours of cloud DVR storage as an additional add-on.
Preview
The storyline dominating this game, of course, is the health of Mohamed Salah.
After piling up 44 goals across all competition for Liverpool and establishing himself as a legitimate Player of the Year contender, the 25-year-old star went down with a shoulder injury during May’s Champions League final against Real Madrid. Though he has returned to training, his status for Egypt’s World Cup opener against Uruguay on Friday remains up in the air.
“He is gradually getting better,” Egyptian FA managing director Ehab Lehita said. “However, I cannot confirm today that he will play in the first match. All I can say is that I hope he will.”
The thought is that Egypt will play it safe with Salah in the opener, knowing that the most likely route to the group stage will be wins over Russia and Saudi Arabia. As such, they’ll want him as healthy as possible for those games.
Of course, for as magical as Salah has been this year, Uruguay stands as the favorite even if he is on the pitch. Oscar Tabarez’s squad has plenty of its own attacking talent in Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani, while the defense is a strong, veteran group.
Uruguay, who have advanced past the group stage in each of the last two World Cups, are certainly the favorites to top Group A this year. That’s likely to start with three points against Egypt, though the presence of the mercurial Salah would certainly make things significantly more interesting.