Egypt and Uruguay have the honor of playing the second game of the World Cup this year at 6am Eastern time in Ekaterinburg Arena in Ekaterinburg, Russia. This is only the second time in history that these two teams have faced each other, the first being a 2006 friendly match that was won 2-0 by Uruguay. Uruguay is again expected to win this match with odds making them the favorite and Egypt the underdog. Uruguay is also the favorite to with the group, while Egypt is predicted to finish third. Register now and enjoy the best World Cup betting odds here at Skybook. We have the biggest variety of bets, futures and props during the World Cup.
Uruguay
Uruguay has been riding high recently, having won the 2018 China Cup by defeating Wales 1-0 in the final in February. Under longtime Coach Oscar Tabarez, Uruguay is playing a 4-4-2 formation that served them well through qualifying, where they nabbed second in their group behind powerhouse Brazil. Edinson Cavani lead the entire region in scoring during qualifying with 10 goals, ahead of Leo Messi and Gabriel Jesus who each had 7. This will be Uruguay's third consecutive World Cup appearance. They finished fourth in 2010 and were eliminated in the group of 16 in 2014.
Egypt
Egypt meanwhile is a defensive-minded squad who won their qualifying group in the third round of the CAF qualifiers. They are mostly content to sit back and let other teams have a go at them offensively, then using international superstar Mohamed Salah of Liverpool take care of the scoring on the counterattack. Salah tied for first place in goals in CAF qualifying with Prejuce Nakoulma of Burkina Faso. Both scored 5 goals. However, after an injury in the Champions League final, Salah has been ruled out for this match. Argentine manager Hector Cuper prefers a 4-2-3-1 system, and has been criticized for his defensive style of play, but has a positive win percentage and only once in the last 30 games has his team conceded more than one goal, so don't look for them to change anything for the World Cup. This will be Egypt's third World Cup appearance ever, the last time being in 1990 when they were eliminated in the group stage.
Match Overview
While still the favorite to win, Uruguay might consider changing their attack-minded approach for this game to neutralize the defensively solid Egyptians. While Uruguay has had success with a 4-4-2 formation that utilizes the attacking power of its young midfielders Federico Valverde and Matias Vecino, the game against Egypt poses some challenges to that style of play. If Egypt is effective in limiting Uruguay's scoring potential, there is decent possibility for a 0-0 draw. In the last match between these two teams, Tabarez got a goal from Diego Godin at the 67th minute and was gifted an Egyptian own goal 10 minutes later to seal the win. Both these teams have changed considerably since that match however. Ahmed Fathi was the only current Egyptian player to play in that 2006 match, while Godin is the only player from the Uruguayan side.
