LIVE: Egypt v Uruguay | World Cup | June 15 2018
Match Info:
Match will K.O at 14:00 Cairo local time | 8:00 ET CAnada-USA
Venue: Ekaterinburg Arena (Ekaterinburg)
Referee: B. Kuipers (Netherlands)
Egypt are desperate to find the net on their first World Cup appearance since 1990 to silence a former player who continues to brag about the only goal the team scored 28 years ago. On a more serious note, an entire nation is dreaming big in the Russia finals.
Magdi Abdel-Ghani, now an Egyptian Football Association member, has dominated headlines and appeared in numerous television ads over the past few years with his endless talks about how he coolly converted a penalty against then European champions Netherlands in a famous 1-1 draw in Palermo.
With Egypt settling for a bore 0-0 draw against Ireland before losing 1-0 to England to suffer a first-round exit at the 1990 Italy finals, the stage was set for the former midfielder to boast about the solitary goal for years and years.
Egypt’s pre-World Cup form has been worrying to a big extent. They could not win any of their five friendly games, at times struggling to carve out openings even against less illustrious teams.
There were positive signs in their first friendly in March though, with a Mohamed Salah goal giving them a surprise lead against Portugal, but the European champions roared back with two stoppage-time goals from Cristiano Ronaldo to turn the match on its head and secure a 2-1 win.
Egypt were lackluster in the subsequent warm-ups, losing to Greece 1-0, salvaging a late 1-1 draw at Kuwait, holding Colombia to a 0-0 draw before suffering a 3-0 defeat by a vibrant Belgium side.
But Cuper, who is credited for rebuilding an ailing side, is adamant his side would do better at the World Cup, playing down the significance of any unfavorable results in friendly matches.
Egypt’s starting line-up: Mohamed El-Shennawi, Ahmed Fathi, Ali Gabr, Ahmed Hegazy, Mohamed Abdel-Shafi, Mohamed Elneny, Tarek Hamed, Abdallah El-Said, Mahmoud Trezeguet, Amr Warda, Marwan Mohsen.
Uruguay’s starting line-up: Fernando Muslera, Guillermo Varela, Diego Godin, Jose Gimenez, Martin Caceres, Nahitan Nandez, Rodrigo Bentancur, Matias Vecino, Giorgian De Arrascaeta, Luis Suarez, Edinson Cavani.
LIVE: Egypt v Uruguay
FT Egypt 0-1 URUAGUAY
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