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#3 No Carlos Queiroz on the touchline for Egypt
Egypt's manager Carlos Queiroz is a much revered figure in the coaching circuit. The Portuguese has coached teams all across the world and was the manager of Real Madrid in the 2003-04 season. He was also an assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United in the 2000s.
Unfortunately for Egypt, they will have to play the final without Queiroz shouting instructions from the touchline. He was shown a red card for dissent in the semi-final against Cameroon and will face a two-match ban.
After the game, Queiroz complained that the referee, Bakary Gassama, had intimidated his side even before the game commenced.
"We hadn't started the game yet and he comes to the locker room to intimidate our staff. But even against this, against all the decisions, which were always against Egypt, we were the best team in the second half and on penalties.
"Again, unfortunately, they send this type of referees to a game of this level, referees with no experience, wanting to put on a show... It started right in the dressing room."
He added:
"CAF does not respect Egypt, from the schedules to the quality of the pitches -- we had the worst pitches. We are Egypt."
Queiroz's assistant had been banned after the quarter-finals and the Egyptian players will be largely left on their own tonight.
#2 Senegal are the better-rested of the two sides
Senegal dispatched all of their knockout stage opponents in normal time and they did so rather comfortably. They also have the added advantage of having an extra day off over their opponents going into the final.
Egypt played their semi-final on Thursday against Cameroon. It was a grueling encounter for the Egyptians with the game eventually being decided on penalties. They've played 120 minutes in all of their knockout games and fatigue could be a decisive factor as they take on Senegal.
#1 Egypt are over-reliant on Mohamed Salah
Mohamed Salah has not exactly been able to replicate the sublime form he has showcased for Liverpool in the 2021-22 season at AFCON 2021. The 29 year old has scored just two goals and provided an assist in six appearances in the tournament.
Egypt have struggled to score goals and that has a lot to do with how their attacking setup is built around Salah. He had an extremely underwhelming outing against Cameroon and Egypt will be hoping that it's going to be a different story tonight.
Unless Salah comes up with a special performance, Egypt are going to look toothless in attack. That's going to be a huge problem against the Senegalese, who are well equipped in almost all departments.
Senegal superstar Sadio Mane has hit a rich vein of form. He has been the man of the match in all of Senegal's knockout stage games and has scored two goals and provided two assists in the last three matches.
