Egypt vs Uruguay: 5 Talking Points, World Cup 2018

#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.