Egypt vs Uruguay: 5 Talking Points, World Cup 2018

Final Score: Egypt 0-1 Uruguay

Goalscorers: Gimenez 90'

Jose Gimenez gave Uruguay a win in their opening World Cup game as his header was the difference between his side and Egypt.

Suarez and Cavani had their chances, but the only goal came from Atletico defender Gimenez in the 90th minute when he headed in from a free-kick.

Here are five talking points from the match:

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#5 Uruguay win their opening World Cup game for the first time since 1970

For the first time since 1970, Uruguay today won their opening match at the World Cup, which is an incredible statistic considering they reached the semi-final in 2010.

They are strong favourites to win Group A, a group that includes themselves, Egypt, Russia and Saudi Arabia, and were before today’s match kicked off. But, they were not up to their best in their opening match.

Egypt had a game plan to defend for the most part, and force Uruguay to create chances for themselves. And it worked, as Uruguay failed to create many chances at all.

Luis Suarez missed a great opportunity in the first-half with the goalkeeper onrushing, as he flashed an effort into the side netting, but other than that the favourites created nothing in the opening half.

In the second half, they got better, with Edinson Cavani having a great volley saved by the Egyptian goalkeeper before he also hit the post from a free-kick.

Despite their below-par performance, they were able to grind out a result. With just a minute remaining of normal time, they got a free-kick by the corner flag on the right-hand side. Substitute Carlos Sanchez put in a delivery from a set-piece that had been missing all game, and Atletico defender Jose Gimenez rose highest to nod home and give his team that all important first win.

#4 Salah unfit to play any part

Salah was forced to sit on the bench for the whole 90 minutes

It was said Mohamed Salah would be able to come off the bench for Egypt’s opening fixture against Uruguay, but the Liverpool winger did not play a single minute of the game.

Salah has had a magnificent season, scoring 43 goals in all competitions, with 32 of those coming in the Premier League, while setting up 14 goals for his team-mates.

However, an injury in the Champions League final to his shoulder put his World Cup in doubt, and if Egypt are unable to gain enough points to progress, we could see him play just two games in the tournament.

Today, his absence was difficult for Egypt to take. Their game plan was to soak up the pressure and hit Uruguay on the counter-attack, which they did, but they were unable to finish any counter attacks with a killer pass or a player to pass to without their star player.

He must not have been fit enough to play, as Egypt were in desperate need of some creativity, but the coach made all three substitutions and refused to bring Salah on.

Hopefully for Egypt, Salah will be fit to play from here on out and play an important part in them progressing out of the group stages, as well as winning their first ever World Cup finals match.

But, could him missing this all-important fixture today prove costly to Egypt’s hopes of making it out of the group stage?

#3 Suarez fails to shine

Suarez showed his frustration throughout the match

Coming into this tournament, although Cavani is also a very formidable striker, Luis Suarez was expected to be Uruguay’s main threat.

He had a magnificent season with Barcelona, scoring 25 goals in 33 La Liga appearances. His record for Uruguay isn’t bad either, with him having scored 51 goals in 99 appearances which is a very good record for an international team.

But in the opening match for Uruguay, the Barcelona striker was far from his best. His touch looked to be off, he was taking a long time to make decisions, and in front of goal he looked a shadow of the deadly finisher which everyone knows Suarez to be.

He missed a great opportunity to take the lead in the first half for his nation, and clean through on goal decided to run the ball into the keeper rather than take on a shot in the second half towards the end. Luckily for him, Uruguay were able to win without him taking either of those opportunities.

He also struggled to link-up with Cavani. Although the two have lots of outstanding qualities, there’s a chance that they may not play well together and combine as well as many would have thought.

It was a day to forget for Suarez, and it’s very likely he will be very disappointed himself with his own performance.

His team-mates and coach will be desperate for the Barca man to forget about his torrid first game in Russia and bring better performances in their future games in this tournament.

#2 Egypt’s resilience is broken in the dying embers of the game

Egypt players were devastated after losing the match so late on

Egypt’s centre-back partnership of Ahmed Hegazi and Ali Gabr were simply fantastic against Uruguay.

Throughout the match Hegazi stayed touch tight to Suarez, winding the forward up and forcing him into mistakes. The centre-back had a fantastic debut season in the Premier League with West Brom and he looks to have brought that form to the World Cup.

On the other hand, his centre-back partner Gabr, who was also at West Brom, did not play a single minute of Premier League football after his arrival in January and should be lacking match fitness. But, the defender played brilliantly and as if he had been playing regularly alongside Hegazi all season.

But it was not only them who put in such a great shift. Arsenal midfielder Mohamed Elneny dictated their play in midfield as well as defending strongly to cover the defence and force Uruguay’s midfield backwards. He did look out of sync going forward though. His partner Tarek Hmed El Said Hamed did a similar job extremely well.

They kept a strong defensive line and worked well as a team to stay tight to Uruguay players and free up minimal space for their opposition.

They did so well to nullify Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez, but unfortunately for them, they were undone from a set piece with just seconds of normal time remaining, as Gimenez nodded in.

#1 Uruguay’s midfield struggle

Bentancur and other Uruguayan midfielders looked lost on the pitch today

Despite Uruguay’s outstanding quality in attack, their midfield has been highlighted as a weak point. In a 4-4-2 formation, they’re set up with just two central midfielders and two classic wide midfielders. Today, Juventus’ Rodrigo Bentancur and Inter Milan’s Matias Vecino played centrally, while Giorgian de Arrascaeta and Nahitan Nandez occupied the flanks.

4-4-2 is their natural formation because Suarez and Cavani both have to play due to their prolific goalscoring records. However, it leaves them with a predicament in midfield.

Today, that was glaringly clear, as the team struggled to move the ball forward and into their two world-class forwards. Bentancur and Vecino’s reluctance to move the ball forward meant Suarez and Cavani had to feed off scraps and create the few chances they did for themselves.

As well as that, when in advanced positions, both De Arrascaeta and Nandez were slow in their decision making and were often forced back into central midfield. This then led to both of their withdrawals, as they were replaced with just over 30 minutes to play.

It was evident that Uruguay were finding it difficult to break down a strong defensive unit. This was only Egypt, it’s likely they’re going to face much better defensive sides than this, and that’s where they could come unstuck.

Although Uruguay were able to get across the line in the end and clinch the victory, some improvements will need to be made to their midfield play for them to progress past better opponents in the latter stages of the tournament.

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