England and Chelsea star Claire Rafferty has warned teams against relying too heavily on their star players at the World Cup.

Appearing as the studio guest on Yahoo’s brand new daily World Cup show, ‘The 32′, Rafferty was previewing all three games taking place in Russia on Friday, including Egypt’s clash with Uruguay.

The Pharoahs’ build up has been dominated by Mohamed Salah’s shoulder injury, which he picked up in the Champions League final, and whether or not he’d make the first game, which coach Héctor Cúper confirmed he will be.

Whilst there is no doubting that his return to fitness will benefit his country – he scored 71 per cent of their goals in qualifying, including the penalty that confirmed their qualification – Rafferty is wary of the effect a recurrence of an injury, or a dip in form could have on his team-mates.

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“It’s a lot of pressure when you are so reliant on one player,” Rafferty told The 32.

“You saw it in the Champions League final and the different mindset in the Liverpool players when he went off.

SLIDESHOW: The 32 star players for every World Cup nation (Click image below)

“If he plays well it’s great, if it’s the latter then it can have a really negative effect on them.

“But they got through qualifying and they’ll have strength in depth, or a plan without him.”

European champions Portugal also begin their campaign today and are still labelled as a one-man team by many, despite Cristiano Ronaldo limping off in the early stages of their Euro 2016 final victory over France.

Rafferty, who was part of the England women’s team who reached the semi-finals and secured a third-placed finish at the 2015 World Cup in Canada, is well aware of the benefits too.

“It’s lovely to know if you’re in trouble that you can shovel [the ball] down the pitch to a striker and they’ll do something,” she added.

“It’s difficult to rely on one player if he’s not in form, but then they can bring the game back if you go behind.”