Market value is only one of the several parameters which comes in to consideration. There are a lot of other factors that needs to be taken in to account, such as the recent form and the ability of players to adjust with the new climatic conditions. I will be making a bet in favor of Russia during the Egypt vs Russia match (19th June 2018), as I can't imagine them losing to Egypt in Saint Petersburg.
I also consider Egypt to be much better team than Russia. Actually it is this way. Even if we just forget about this total market value for a moment and just look at the skills of the players that are involved, Egypt has some good ones in its team. Now these were facts and there is luck involved too. No one knows what will happen in the end. Considering any opponent as weak can be fatal.
There is also an issue, which can be not so obvious for those, who don't pay much attention to Russian football.
We have a limit on foreign players in Russian Premier League. Only 6 players without Russian passport can be on a pitch at the same time, so it led to a great burst of prices in the Russian local market and, for sure, players' salaries as well. For example, Alexander Kokorin earns in Zenit 3.3 mln euros. Being in Dinamo in 2013—2016, he earned 5.5 mln. Artem Dzyuba earns 3.6, Fedor Smolov - 2.5, Pavel Mamaev - 2.4, etc. They don't have any motivation to improve their skill and move to Europe. There is no any club in Europe, which will pay the same money for players' of these level. They know, there is a very low probability of them to lose their contract, because demand on players with Russian passport on our local market exceeds supply. 99% of them knows they will play in Russia for the rest of their career, so the kind of motivation to show yourself on the World Cup to move to a better club is definitely not related to our situation.
So I think, those, who supposed the motivation will become a crucial factor for Russia to beat Egypt, should take into attention the facts I've written.
