No-one expected Egypt, Morocco or Saudi Arabia to win the FIFA World Cup 2018 but for all three to crash out on the same day was a disaster for Arab football. Saudi Arabia will play for pride when they face Egypt, another eliminated team, in their final Group A clash at Volgograd Arena on Monday. Saudi Arabia have played two matches in the tournament so far – against Russia and Uruguay and suffered defeats on both occasions. Saudi Arabia have conceded six goals in their previous two matches and failed to score a single one. On the other hand, Egypt have lost their previous two encounters but managed to add one goal to their tally in the mega event.

Saudi Arabia were thumped 5-0 by Russia and then lost 1-0 to an unconvincing Uruguay.

Saudi's Argentinian coach Juan Antonio Pizzi was asked by journalists why the team had failed to make Saudi Arabian fans "proud" of their team.

Turki al-Sheikh, the Saudi Arabian sports authority chief, lashed out at the players after the Russia debacle in a Twitter video, claiming the performance was a personal insult.

"We've done everything we could for the national team players," he thundered, before adding: "They've blackened my face."

Egypt's tournament has been a fairytale turned horror story with the injury saga of their key player Mohamed Salah.

Liverpool's top scorer last season missed the defeat to Uruguay with a shoulder injury suffered in last month's Champions League final.

Egypt crashed out of the World Cup after losing to Russia 3-1 on Tuesday, with Salah returning to action for the first time in three weeks following a shoulder injury but unable to save his team.

Likely Saudi Arabia XI: Al-Mosailem, Al-Berik, Hawsawi, Al-Bulaihi, Al-Shahrani, Otayf, Al-Faraj, Al-Shehri, Kanno, Al-Dawsari, Al-Muwallad.

Likely Egypt XI: El-Hadary, Fathy, Gabr, Hegazi, Abdel Shafy, Elneny, Hamed, Salah, Said, Trezeguet, Kahraba.

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