Saudi Arabia vs Egypt
World Cup Group A
Date: Monday, 25 June 2018
Kick-Off at 15:00 UK / 16:00 CET
Venue: Volgograd Arena, Volgograd.
- Saudi Arabia and Egypt are set to take on each other in the clash without the importance after both sides lost their previous fixtures in the Group A.
- Mohamed Salah was unrecognizable against Russia. Will he make an impact here?
- Saudi Arabia look to have improved a lot from the opening display against Russia.
There is nothing but pride on stake when Saudi Arabia and Egypt clash each other in the final round of the group A on Monday afternoon at Volgograd Arena. Both teams head into the game with no points after the opening two ties as the winner will only get to deserve the third-place finish as a consolation reward.
Saudi Arabia – Egypt Match Preview
Saudi Arabia improved significantly from their horrendous performance against the host nation on the opening day. They held Uruguay to a narrow 1-0 defeat on Wednesday afternoon providing a decent resistance against the massive South American favourites.
- World Cup 2018 Group Stage: Who needs what to qualify?
Nevertheless, it was still not enough for the Green Falcons to avoid the fourth group stage elimination in five World Cup appearances. Moving forward, Saudi Arabia are winless in last 12 matches at the World Cups, having lost as many as 10 along the way.
The streak could come to an end on Monday given the opposition will not be highly motivated to push strong after losing all hopes of making it to the knockout stages.
As the matter of fact, it will be interesting to see whether Hector Raul Cuper will risk with Mohamed Salah rom the starting line-up knowing that Liverpool’s star has just recovered from the injury he suffered in the Champions League final against Real Madrid.
In all, it has been a disappointing World Cup experience for the Pharaohs who showed very little in the final third against both Uruguay and Russia. Salah scored team’s only goal in two games, converting the penalty-kick at the 3-0 scoreline against the Russians.
Saudi Arabia vs Egypt Team News and Predicted Line-ups
Saudi Arabia Team News
Juan Antonio Pizzi made four changes to the side that suffered a 5-0 catastrophe in the first outing against Russia.
The most influential was certainly the one between the sticks as Mohammed Al-Owais definitely earned the right to start the third game after a decent performance against Uruguay (in spite of a mistake he made when Luis Suarez scored the only goal of the game).
Al Hilal midfielder Abdullah Ateef produced a decent display at the center of the park and is expected to be one of the key figures to the Green Falcons success here.
Saudi Arabia Predicted Starting Eleven (4-1-4-1)
Al-Owais – Al-Burayk, Hawsawi, Albulayhi, Al-Shahrani – Otayf – Dawsari, Al-Faraj, Jassim, Bahbir – Al Muwallad.
Egypt Team News
Hector Cuper introduced Mohamed Salah into the squad after the Liverpool star skipped the opener against Uruguay.
Salah did score from penalty, but could not do much to cause the damage to the Russian defense overall.
Marwan Mohsen did nothing in the final third against Russia as the lone striker and it will be interesting to see if Cuper will use him from the first whistle here.
Egypt Predicted Starting Eleven (4-2-3-1)
El-Shenawy – Fathi, Gabr, Hegazy, El-Shafy – Elneny, Hamed – Salah, El-Said, Trezeguet – Mohsen.
Saudi Arabia vs Egypt Head-to-head
This will be the fourth head to head encounter between the two likes. Egypt lead the tie by a single win after clinching back-to-back victories in last two meetings with the Green Falcons.
The Pharaohs suffered a 1-5 disaster when the teams met at the 1999 Confederations Cup, but they’ve managed to fix the impression in following two clashes with Saudi Arabia, beating them narrowly on two separate occasions in friendlies in 2005 and 2007.
Saudi Arabia Egypt Predictions
The bookies see Egypt as favourites to win the match, but we see the clash as an entirely open contest which can go either way. Egypt are definitely the more disappointed of the two sides and their wounds after failing to reach the knockout stage are much stronger.
It is certainly something Saudi Arabia could take advantage of in order to end the dreadful streak of 12 consecutive World Cup games without a single victory. The value is thus huge with Saudi Arabia to win at 4.50 odds.
Overall, we don’t expect strong defensive performances from any of the two sides ahead of the clash which will by no means affect the final standings in the group (in terms of the knockout stage qualification). Both teams to score is a pick priced up at 1.95.
- Predicted Full-Time Result is a surprise victory for Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia vs Egypt Betting Tips
-
Saudi Arabia to win @ 4.50.
-
Both teams to Score @ 1.95.
-
Correct Full-Time Score: 2-1 Saudi @ 17.00.
