Last updated on .From the section World Cup Egypt are competing at their first World Cup finals since Italia 90 Africa will have five teams competing at the World Cup in Russia as the continent looks to reach the semi-finals for the first time. Egypt's Mohamed Salah and Senegal's Sadio Mane are star names but what about the lesser-known players and their backgrounds? There is a 45-year-old goalkeeper who is appearing at his first finals and a midfielder who once chased a thief and recovered a stolen wallet. BBC Sport turns the spotlight on some of the African players who could be playing at the tournament over the next few weeks. Essam El-Hadary (Egypt) At the age of 45, Egypt captain Essam El-Hadary stands to make history in Russia by becoming the oldest player to take part in a World Cup finals. The goalkeeper, veteran of 150-plus caps, will comfortably break Faryd Mondragon's record. The Colombian, also a goalkeeper, was 43 years and three days old when he played in a group match against Japan four years ago. El-Hadary is older than three coaches at the World Cup including Senegal's 42-year-old Aliou Cisse and Serbia's 44-year-old Mladen Krstajic. Belgium's Roberto Martinez is also 44. The Egyptian made his international debut 22 years ago - four months after England boss Gareth Southgate won his first cap. He is a four-time Africa Cup of Nations winner but this is his first World Cup. "My age is 45, but for me, this is just a number on paper," said El-Hadary. "My father, who passed away, told me that his dream was to watch me playing at a World Cup and I want to make my dad proud." One of the secrets to his prolonged playing career is spending up to 20 minutes a day in an ice bath. El-Hadary plays in Saudi Arabia - who Egypt face in a Group A game on 25 June - with Al-Taawoun. Egypt start their campaign against Uruguay in Yekaterinburg on 15 June before facing hosts Russia in Saint Petersburg on 19 June. Egypt goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary (left) jokes with forward Mohamed Salah Ogenyi Onazi (Nigeria) Nigeria, who are competing at their sixth World Cup finals, have bags of courage and bravery in midfield in the shape of Ogenyi Onazi. During five seasons with Lazio, winning the Coppa Italia in 2013, the 25-year-old once chased a thief through the streets of Rome to recover a wallet stolen from an older tourist. Onazi caught the suspect, dragged him back to where he stole the wallet and handed him over to local police. Now playing his club football in Turkey with Trabzonspor, Onazi was part of the Super Eagles side that reached the last 16 of the World Cup in Brazil four years ago. Nigeria start this tournament against Croatia in Kaliningrad on 16 June (20:00 BST). Gernot Rohr's side then take on Iceland in Volgograd on 22 June (16:00 BST) and round off their Group D campaign against Argentina in Saint Petersburg on 26 June (19:00 BST). Ogenyi Onazi was denied a work permit to play for Birmingham City in 2017 Faycal Fajr (Morocco) Morocco arrive in Russia for their first World Cup since France 98 with the most foreign-born players of any team - 17 of their 23-man squad were born outside the country. Midfielder Faycal Fajr, 29, was born in France and plays his club football for Getafe in Spain. He has recovered from a broken leg suffered when jumping to avoid a pit bull terrier. Morocco launch their Group B campaign against Iran in Saint Petersburg on Friday (16:00 BST) before facing Portugal on 20 June (13:00 BST). Herve Renard's side then finish their group campaign against Spain in Kaliningrad on 25 June (19:00 BST). Faycal Fajr has played in Spain for Elche, Deportivo La Coruna and Getafe Yohan Benalouane (Tunisia) Defender Yohan Benalouane is hoping to play more games at the World Cup than he managed in the Premier League in the whole of 2017-18. Benalouane made just one top-flight start for Leicester City last season but hopes to propel Tunisia to the knockout stages in the North African nation's first World Cup since 2006. Born in France, Benalouane is eligible due to his Tunisian father. Away from football, he is known as a sharp dresser and is a fan of art, regularly tweeting paintings of himself. Tunisia are in Group G and start against England on 18 June in Volgograd (19:00 BST) before travelling to Moscow to take on Belgium on 23 June (13:00 BST). World Cup debutants Panama provide the opposition for their final group game in Saransk on 28 June (19:00 BST). Benalouane joined Leicester from Italian side Atalanta in 2015 M'Baye Niang (Senegal) A former wonder-kid turned bad boy, M'Baye Niang is Senegal's World Cup wildcard. Born in an unforgiving suburb in Paris, Niang finally pledged allegiance to Senegal, his parents' homeland, last autumn - six years after pulling out of a Senegal squad and rescinding his decision to represent the country. AC Milan forward Niang, 23, admits to having made numerous "silly mistakes which have hurt me". His France career effectively ended when he incurred a 12-month ban for breaking a curfew to visit a nightclub. In 2016, the former Watford loanee returned for the Italian Cup final after an 11-week absence caused by his car skidding off the road - only to then anger the club and fans by jumping off the roof of a house into a swimming pool and posting footage on social media. Senegal are at their first World Cup since 2002. They play Poland in Moscow on 19 June (16:00 BST) before facing Japan in Yekaterinburg on 24 June (16:00 BST) and round off their Group H campaign against Colombia in Samara on 28 June (15:00 BST).<doc-sep>Established powers used not to see African teams coming. That was the case literally in 1982, when West Germany’s manager, Jupp Derwall, decided against asking his squad to watch a video of Algeria before facing them because he feared his players would mock him for making the suggestion. Some of those players had, after all, boasted publicly that they would score a hatful of goals and play the match with cigars in their mouths. Algeria’s 2-1 victory over the European champions was a delicious lesson about the perils of hubris but also, to anyone willing to pay attention, about advances made by African teams. Tunisia thought they had made that point four years earlier when holding West Germany to a 0-0 draw (and beating Mexico) but apparently some folks needed telling more than once. Africa’s other participants in 1982, Cameroon, also performed well but also failed to reach the next round even though they did not lose a match. But from the next tournament onwards, starting with Morocco in 1986, an African representative has always reached the knockout stages. Four years ago Algeria and Nigeria made the last 16, seemingly indicating increased strength in depth across the continent. This year the bar could be raised higher, with all five African countries capable of getting out of their groups. On the flip side, there are grounds for believing this will be the first World Cup for 36 years in which every African team falls at the first hurdle. Let’s explore the Afro-optimist view. For a start, it is worth noting that all African squads in Russia seem relatively happy. This week’s dissolution of the Ghanaian Football Association following the exposure of systemic corruption served a reminder that the efforts of many African players continue to be sabotaged by oafs and miscreants. However the signs are the quintet at the World Cup are in decent hands, which is to say, at least, that the risks of schisms over bonuses or extraneous botheration appear to be low. That already gives African teams an edge over, say, Spain. Spain will meet Morocco, who are probably the most complete African team at this tournament and have been cast into the toughest pool. The Atlas Lions are a model of powerful unity under Hervé Renard, who has transformed them since taking charge two years ago. Their tight defence is screened by Karim El Ahmadi and built around Juventus’s Mehdi Benatia, whose wiliness at centre-back has helped the Wolves midfielder Romain Saïss to adapt well to being his sidekick. Morocco did not concede a goal during the final six-game round of qualifiers. Morocco’s players prepare for Friday’s game against Iran. Photograph: Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images Going forward they have players who can pick a way through any defence on a good day, particularly M’barek Boussoufa, Younès Belhanda and, above all, Hakim Ziyech, who is looking to bring to global attention the skills that earned him the player of the year award at Ajax last season. Beating Iran on Friday seems essential if Morocco are to advance from a group that includes Portugal and Spain, neither of whom will find them easy to penetrate and both of whom could be vulnerable to counterattacks. Senegal have plenty going for them, too, even if, like Nigeria, Tunisia and even the Egypt of the 45-year-old Essam El-Hadary, there are doubts about the reliability of their goalkeepers. Few teams in Russia will have a better central defensive pairing than Kalidou Koulibaly and Kara Mbodji, assuming Mbodji has recovered fully from the injury that hampered him last season. Senegal’s spine is reinforced by a central midfield in which Badou Ndiaye’s influence is growing and Alfred Ndiaye has shown in recent friendlies that he could be an upgrade on Idrissa Gana Gueye, whose recent performances for his country have been glum. On a solid platform Senegal could thrill although their manager, Aliou Cissé, has yet to prove he has found a way to harness fully the potential of gifted attackers such as Sadio Mané, Keita Baldé, Mbaye Niang and Ismaila Sarr. If they click, Senegal could swagger out of their group and trouble their opponents in the last 16. That could be England. To get that far England will need a positive result against Tunisia, who will be no stooges. While not expecting to dominate possession their manager, Nabil Maâloul, has said his team will be daring and do more than simply try to absorb pressure. Last week’s friendly against Spain, in which Tunisia held their own until shrinking into their shells in the second half, underlined that audacity would be their best policy because Maâloul does not have good enough defenders to interpret catenaccio. Even though injury has deprived them of their most exciting creator, Youssef Msakni, Tunisia’s strongest players are slick attackers. They will aim to play against England and Panama on the front foot and could hurt both. Egypt, by contrast, are likely to be cautious even though their group looks less dangerous. That will be especially true in their opening match, against Uruguay, for which Mohamed Salah has been declared fit. Without Salah Egypt are marvel-less. Russia and Saudi Arabia are no great shakes either and Salah can be expected to torment them. World Cup Fiver: sign up and get our daily football email Nigeria have real qualities: dynamism, power and sharpness up front if Simy Nwankwo makes an impact in place of Odion Ighalo. But they also have flaws, notably in goal and defence, and they lack the ingenuity of previous Super Eagles sides so while they should crush Iceland, they look unlikely to finish ahead of Croatia and Argentina even if they beat the latter in a friendly in November, when Lionel Messi was absent. For them, too, reaching the knockout stages looks improbable. But not impossible. All five of the African countries, then, can find reasons to be confident of venturing beyond the group stage, where there could be an unprecedented contingent from the continent. But that is unlikely. Even less likely is that any of them will become the first African country to reach a semi-final.<doc-sep>
Super Eagles of Nigeria are one of the five teams representing Africa in Russia. They will start the World Cup campaign against Croatia on Saturday. Net photo AFRICA is the second most populated continent and football is king, but producing a team to advance beyond the quarter-finals is a dream yet to pass – let alone to lift the gold trophy. Since Egypt became the first African team to play in the World Cup final in 1934, only three teams have been able to reach the round of last eight; Cameroun in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010. Could 2018 be the time for new history? – May be, maybe not. As the 2018 FIFA World Cup kicks-off today in Russia, the question is: Will any of the five African teams reach semi-finals for a historic first time? Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia are representing Africa in Russia – but few believe they will get near the final. Like legendary Nelson Mandela put it, “It always seems impossible until it is done.” Internal controversies, poor preparations, lack of organisation and tactical errors to mention but a few, are some of the ills, according to experts. At least 70% of African teams that have been to the World Cup including Russia 2018 were coached by non-African coaches. Of the 44 occasions, African teams have been to World Cup, including Russia 2018; thirty have been managed by non-African coaches. At the 21st edition of the glamorous quadrennial event, Egypt, Morocco and Nigeria are managed by an Argentinian, a Frenchman and a German tactician respectively. For each team’s pedigree and their respective group opponents, here is a closer look at each team. Nigeria They made the first appearance 24 years ago. Dressed in the splendid green and white outfit complete with hats and shoes, they seem to have already won the fashion contest at the games. Under German Coach Gernot Rohr since 2016, with their preferred 4-2-3-1 format, a Group D win against Croatia and Iceland will propel them to the last sixteen. A win against Argentina will really be a scuffle, unless team captain Obi Mikel, Kelechi Iheancho and Victor Moses inspire the Super Eagles to what would rather be a miracle. Their strength lies in their solid midfield play and the captivating firepower in the attack. Senegal The Lions of Teranga face Poland in the Group H opener on June 19, under a pragmatic Coach Aliou Cisse who captained the legendary 2002 team in Korea and Japan. They intend to use a new system of the 3-5-2 format in Russia. Key stars will be Idrissa Gueye, Chiekhou Kouyate on top of a combative midfield composed of Keita Balde plus gifted match winner Sadio Mané. If results break right, a place in the final 16 is within reach. Egypt The Pharaohs return to the contest after 28 years; they qualified through a dramatic fashion under Argentine Hector Cupe. The star player is Mohamed Salah, whose shoulder injury in UEFA Champions league final last month had put the entire nation on edge. Thankfully, he is reported to be fit for the country’s opener against Uruguay on Friday. Russia and Saudi Arabia are the other two Group A members. Morocco The Lions of Atlas return to the showpiece after 20 years, under French coach Herve Renard. They are marking their fourth appearance on the world scene. Of the 23-man squad in Russia, only six were born in Morocco. The rest were born in Europe. They have a very well drilled and tough backline, having qualified without conceding a goal. The team has only conceded 11 goals in their last 23 matches. Forwards Hakim Ziyech and Nordin Amrabat are likely to be a magical duo. Morocco face Iran this Friday in their opener of deadly Group B – which also includes Portugal and Spain. Tunisia Tunisia’s first World Cup appearance since 2006 might have been derailed before it starts. In April, star man and top scorer in qualifying Youssef Msakni was ruled out of the tournament after tearing a cruciate ligament – a scenario that national team boss Nabil Maaloul equated to Argentina trying to compete in Russia without Lionel Messi. Most of the players in Russia play in lower ranked leagues and, will definitely need to step up their game to survive early exit from Group G – also made of England, Belgium, and Panama. editorial@newtimes.co.rw