World Cup 2018: 3 Things that went Wrong for Egypt against Russia

#2 Lacklustre Defending

Ahmed Fahti's own goal was the epitome of a poor defensive effort from the Egyptians

After one of the strongest defensive efforts we've seen at this year's World Cup against Uruguay, the Egyptians failed to find any of their characteristic resilience against effective hosts in Saint Petersburg.

While Ahmed Fahti's own goal was the logical result of a poor punch from goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy and an even worse tackle from the captain, the writing was on the wall for the Pharaohs for quite some time.

Egypt seemed completely overwhelmed by the physical force of Artem Dzyuba, paired with the creativity of Denis Cheryshev and Aleksandr Golovin. While Russia's attack was less threatening than Uruguay's, their prolific goalscoring showed the Egyptian defence their limits quite clearly.

The three conceded goals were thoroughly deserved, as El Shenawy could not reproduce his heroic performance against Suarez, Cavani and their teammates. If Egypt want to be more successful at big tournaments, they seriously need to work on their defensive structure and tactical prowess, in order to avoid defeats like this in the future.

18 - Artem Dzyuba contested 18 aerial duels v Egypt, the most for any player in a #WorldCup game since Cho Jae-Jin in 2006. Colossal. pic.twitter.com/YWIwlzVVmj

— OptaJohan (@OptaJohan) June 19, 2018