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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 10 JUNE 2018 28 SPORTS Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah is confident he will be fit enough to take part in Egypt's World Cup opener against Uru- guay in Yekaterinburg next Fri- day, Spanish newspaper Marca reported on Saturday. The 25-year-old went off with a shoulder problem in the first half of Liverpool's 3-1 defeat to Real Madrid in last month's Champi- ons League final but the speedy forward expects to play some part in Egypt's first Group A fix- ture in Russia. "Now I'm feeling better," Salah told the Spanish daily. "I'm hope- ful of being able to play in our first game, but this will depend on how I feel when the day comes around." Salah, who laughed off Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos's claim that he would have been able to continue in Kiev had he taken a pain-killing injection, scored the penalty that sealed Egypt's place at a first World Cup in 28 years and insists they are not in Russia to make up the numbers. "We've got a great team and a great coach. We want to get into the next round and do things well there," he added. "We're strong as a group, we all have the same objective, which is to win and that's the most im- portant thing. We don't just have one strong point, but the main thing is we play together as a group. "The pressure was to qualify for the World Cup. Of course, you can then say 'right, we've got there, that's that', but for me it's not like that. We want to make history and achieve something different. "It's not a simple case of going, playing three games and thank you very much. That's not going through my head." Saudi Arabia and hosts Russia are the other teams in Egypt's group. Salah hopeful of making World Cup opener for Egypt SPAIN coach Julen Lopetegui has warned his players that they must be ready to adapt to the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system during the World Cup in Russia. Spain face Portugal, a country whose domestic league imple- mented VAR at the start of last season, in their opening Group B game next Friday. Spain's La Liga will introduce VAR next season, meaning few players in the Spain squad have experienced a match refereed with the help of video and Lo- petegui highlighted the need to be prepared mentally as well as physically for the stoppages. "Portugal are used to the new system and Spain aren't," he told a news conference ahead of Saturday's friendly against Tunisia in the Russian city of Krasnodar. "When there's a stoppage that we're not used to, we will need to ensure we are fully focused in order to take advantage and be ready for the restart. There's been examples of it working well and not so well for teams." The president of the Spanish Referee's Association, Carlos Velasco Carballo, spoke to the squad on Friday ahead of the tournament and explained how the VAR system works. "The talk that we were given has helped us all a lot and cleared up a lot of the doubts we might have had," Lopetegui said. "There's no point kicking up a fuss – VAR is being used and it is here to stay. We need to ac- cept it and adapt ourselves to it." The coach confirmed that Real Madrid defender Dani Carvajal is almost certain to be included in his final squad. The fullback, who came off injured in his club's Champions League final victory over Liver- pool at the end of last month, was named in Spain's initial 23-man squad last week. Yet squad changes are per- mitted until 24 hours before a country's first game, with Carvajal's club mate Jesus Vallejo having travelled to Rus- sia on standby. Lopetegui, however, eased fears over Carvajal's participation. "We need to support him. He's going step by step and we're happy with his recovery. I have no doubts that he'll be alright, if not for the first game then for the second, but he'll be ready, of that I'm sure." Spain coach speaks about VAR system