MOSCOW, June 24. /TASS/. Defender Jose Gimenez will skip the Uruguay-Russia match of the final round of 2018 FIFA World Cup Group A on Monday, the team’s press service said.
The footballer has a special training program during the World Cup due to an injury.
Earlier this week, Gimenez cannoned in an 89th minute header to deal Egypt a 1-0 defeat in their World Cup opener.
Russia will face Uruguay on June 25. After two group stage rounds, Russia holds the top spot in Group A and needs a win or a draw in the game against Uruguay to keep it. Both teams have already advanced to the Round of 16.
Russia is holding its first-ever edition of the FIFA World Cup, which kicked off in Moscow with a spectacular opening show at the Luzhniki Stadium on the night of June 14.
A total of 32 national football teams are participating. The teams were divided into eight groups, with four in each, and the top two from their relevant groups will proceed to the next round, known as the playoffs or the knockout stage, to keep vying for the much-coveted FIFA World Cup Trophy.
Eleven host cities, namely Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara, were selected to be the venues for the matches of the 2018 World Cup.