World Cup 2018: Egypt 0-1 Uruguay; 4 key battles that decided the game

#4 Tarek Hamed vs Rodrigo Bentancur

Until he came off, Hamed bossed the midfield with his positioning

Tarek Hamed might have stayed on the pitch for 50 minutes, but as long as he was on it was impossible to determine that Uruguay was the favourite of the two sides. It was only after he was taken off that Uruguay could find spaces to exploit in the midfield.

'Major-General', as he is called in Egypt, was all over the pitch and stopped most of the decisive balls the Uruguayans tried to play through him. Even though he was outnumbered by Vecino and Bentancur, it hardly looked like it.

Once Hamed was out, Bentancur began making the passes he was supposed to and got more time and space on the ball to utilize. Of the new generation players deployed in midfield today, he was the only one who wasn't taken off.

He also used his height in the air well to help out against crosses, but his decision making skills when making the forward passes left a lot to be desired.

Hamed vs Bentancur - stats

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