Russia got off an amazing start with a vicious takedown of Saudi Arabia. The host nation will look to add three more points when they go up against Egypt this Tuesday. Egypt remains pointless after going down against Uruguay in a heart-breaking fashion. Mo Salah is set to play, though, so a bounce back could be in the offing for The Pharaohs. Read on for a preview of this intriguing match below.
The host country barely broke a sweat in their opening match, destroying Saudi Arabia in a cakewalk of a 5-0 win. That’s not entirely unexpected considering that Saudi Arabia was among the weakest teams in the field. Although the score suggests that the Russians utterly dominated Saudi Arabia, they were actually on the losing end of the possession battle, as they only held control of the ball 40 percent of the time. They also had fewer passes, 306-511. However, Russia made up for it with excellent placement of the ball, as the team made 13 shot attempts compared to Saudi Arabia’s six. Denis Cheryshev was deemed man of the match thanks to his brace. The Russians are going to face a tougher opponent this Tuesday in the Mo Salah-led Egypt side.
Betting on Egypt (+280)
Egypt was the heavy underdog in its opening World Cup match against Uruguay, but The Pharaohs held their own for most of the contest nonetheless, losing only to Luis Suarez and company to the tune of a 1-0 score – and that’s without Liverpool superstar Mo Salah who did not play to give his shoulder injury some more time to recover. He seems to be ready to give it a go for the Russia match, though. The match was headed to a 0-0 draw until José Giménez knocked in a goal with a header in the 89th minute of the match. Still, the fact that Egypt held Uruguay’s supposedly deadly offense down to only a goal and made it bleed for that solitary score gives off the impression that there’s more to the side than Mo Salah, as The Pharaohs’ defense looks something to watch out for.
