Emmo: One thing I never thought I would say. "I have been waiting all morning for Egypt Vs Uruguay"

Wheddsta: Woke up at 6:30 this morning as i couldn’t contain my excitement for today’s World Cup games... Had literally no commitments or responsibilities this morning so I’ve been waiting 6 hours, but FINALLY coverage has started!

I love the group stages, Wheddster - it's wall-to-wall football for the best part of two weeks.

Image source, EPA

Mohamed Salah gives a cheery nod to the camera operator as he jogs up the tunnel and down the touchline towards the bench. Will we see him later?

Jermaine Jenas
Former England midfielder on BBC One

The spirit he's got, the desire. It runs through the team. Look at the centre-halves Diego Godin and Jose Gimenez, they are also associated with that desire, that pride.

It epitomises Suarez, he's a born winner and wins at any cost.

Image source, EPA

Mark Lawrenson
BBC football expert

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I said on the night that Mohamed Salah dislocated his shoulder in the Champions League final that he could still be at this World Cup, and it is great for him and for Egypt that he has made it - even though he has not made the starting line-up.

I know from experience that, with your shoulder, the slightest knock can put it out again, and he will be thinking about that a lot.

Even if Salah comes in and plays at his best, it is going to be hard for Egypt to get out of this group, in their first World Cup since 1990. Uruguay have lots of big-game experience and they will be looking to Luis Suarez to provide some star quality to go with it.

Prediction: 0-1

Read the other predictions here

Andy: Last Sunday I organised a sticker swapping session for all the local parents at the park. The children who are meant to be the collectors just played whilst the real collectors had great fun too!

Keep your sticker album stories coming, please - the tales of swaps, the players it was impossible to get - and those you seemed to get in every packet - and the memories of World Cup summers past. Ah, feeling all nostalgic now...

Image source, BBC Sport

At every game during this World Cup, we will be running our live Player Rater. It proved very popular when we tried it out during the Champions League final, and not just with people who wanted to take out their frustrations on Sergio Ramos.

As Russia beat Saudi Arabia 5-0 yesterday, Denis Cheryshev was the highest rated player with 7.22, above Artem Dzyuba on 7.16. Saudi Arabia substitute Mohannad Aseri averaged 3.36.

Today's Player Rater will go live 30 minutes into the game. I'll give you a nudge when it does.

This is Egypt's first World Cup game since their 1-0 defeat by England in 1990.

They have only played four World Cup matches - across two tournaments - winning none.

In 1934, they went out to Hungary in the first round - and in 1990 drew against the Netherlands and Republic of Ireland before losing to England to exit at the group stage.

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Former England midfielder Jermaine Jenas on BBC One, reflecting on Mohamed Salah's omission from the Egypt starting line-up: "I think it's the right decision not to start him. Uruguay is their toughest game. Looking at Russia and Saudi Arabia, those are the games where you'd look for Mo Salah to come back in.

"Uruguay are a seriously physical side, and it may be he wouldn't be able to perform at the level we know he can."

Image source, Getty Images

This is Oscar Tabarez's fourth World Cup appearance as a head coach, more than any other coach at this year's tournament.

They have all been as Uruguay boss, across two spells, in 1990, 2010, 2014 and 2018.

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The all-time record is held by Carlos Alberto Parreira, who managed five different countries, in six World Cups. He won the 1994 edition as Brazil boss.

BBC One's coverage is under way now. Gary Lineker is in the chair, with Phil Neville, Jermaine Jenas and Matthew Upson offering the opinion. If you're in the UK, you can watch by refreshing your browser at the top of the page and clicking the icon.

Let's go through the line-ups in a little more detail - starting with Egypt, playing at the World Cup finals for the first time since 1990 after finishing four points clear at the top of a qualifying group that contained Ghana. Arsenal's Mohamed Elneny lines up in midfield, while there's an all West Brom centre-back pairing of Ali Gabt and Ahmed Hegazi.

Mohamed El-Shenawy gets the nod in goal, so there's no appearance for 45-year-old Essam El-Hadary. Which for the forty-somethings among us, is a huge disappointment, I can tell you.

Image source, BBC Sport

Uruguay finished second only to Brazil in South American qualifying. That's why BBC Sport's Gary Lineker selected them as his "dark horses" for the tournament – citing their goal threat and vast experience.

Luis Suarez wins his 99th cap for his country in Ekaterinburg, goalkeeper Fernando Muslera his 98th.

Image source, BBC Sport

Once upon a time, your television World Cup experience featured David Coleman or John Motson broadcasting down a crackly line from Mexico, over fuzzy pictures, and with a giant letter R in the top corner of the screen to denote slow-motion replays.

Those were great days, but times move on - and to prove it, the BBC is showing this World Cup in virtual reality. All 33 of the BBC's live games - including this one - will be available via the BBC Sport VR 2018 FIFA World Cup app.

Users will be able to watch the action direct from the stadium in a fully immersive environment - as if you were actually watching from inside the stadium in your own hospitality box.

Further details, plus all the T&Cs, are here.

BBC One

The match is live on BBC One and BBC Radio 5 live - Jonathan Pearce will be bringing you commentary on the telly while Martin Keown will be alongside him providing the analysis.

Build-up on TV and radio starts at 12:30 BST. On the subject of which...

I'd be very interested to hear your sticker album related tales too. I remember at my primary school, when we were collecting for the Mexico 86 album, our head of year had to step in when a black market sprang up in the playground. Instead of swapping stickers, we were charging money for them. Rinat Dasayev went for as much as 10p. Heady times.

To be fair to Panini, it did release the album three months ago. And it's not just Joe Hart who is in there and didn't make it to the finals - as Bill Edgar, the Times' brilliant stats man, points out.

Image source, AFP

My favourite stat of the World Cup's opening day? None of the first three scorers at Russia 2018 - Yuri Gazinskiy, Denis Cheryshev and Artem Dzyuba - are in the official Panini sticker album. Thank goodness Aleksandr Golovin scored in the 94th minute to save us from a complete blank.

We had a spectacular start to the World Cup yesterday. Even the locals don't expect Russia to do much at this tournament - the pre-match headline in Thursday's Moscow Times was: "Aging and Inexperienced: Why Russia is doomed to fail."

And then they went and thrashed Saudi Arabia 5-0. I mean, Saudi Arabia were utterly hopeless, but still - it was a marvellous start for the hosts.