On Monday, June 25th at 10 am Eastern time Saudi Arabia will take on Egypt in Volograd, Russia. It will be each team's last game of the group stage. Egypt is favored to win this game, according to our World Cup Betting page. With a stellar defense and the star power of Liverpool's Mohamed Salah (if healthy), the Egyptians should have an easy time winning this game against a Saudi Arabian team that is relatively inexperienced on the World Cup Stage.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia comes into the game as underdogs, losers of their first two games against Russia and Uruguay. Up to this point they are scoreless at the World Cup, victims of a 6-0 goal differential through those two games. Coming into the tournament, they were and still are the lowest-ranked team in the FIFA standings among World Cup nations. While this is their 5th World Cup appearance in their nation's history, they have never made it out of the group stage.
Egypt
While their results have not been quite as bad as those of Saudi Arabia, Egypt still finds themselves in the same position, having lost their first two games of the tournament and unable to qualify for the knockout round, no matter what the results of this match. After a gut wrenching loss in the final minute against Uruguay in the first game, Egypt had hope for their second match against Russia when star forward Mohammed Salah returned from a shoulder injury that he suffered in the final game of the Champions League. Unfortunately, even with Salah, Egypt could not stop the onslaught of a Russian offence that has been one of the great storylines so far of this world Cup. Up until now, Egypt have been content to sit back and let other teams have a go at them offensively, then using Salah to take care of the scoring on the counterattack. That strategy may change for this game, as Egypt will be coming into this match hoping to at least get a high-scoring win in their 2018 World Cup experience. This has been Egypt's third World Cup appearance ever, the last time being in 1990 when they were eliminated in the group stage.
Match Overview
These two countries have played each other eight times dating back to 1961. Egypt has won six of those matches. The other two were a draw and the only Saudi Arabian win was in 1999. The last match was a 2005 friendly which Egypt won 1-0. This match should not be any different from the rest. Both teams are defensive-minded squads, but Egypt has more high-profile players, even without Salah. Saudi Arabia will count on Yahya Al Shehri, their established playmaker to drum up offence, but this team's main strength is their familiarity with one another. All of their players play in the Saudi Domestic League, and most of the roster is made up of players from only two teams, champions Al Hilal and runners up Al Ahli. Still, Egypt has a distinct advantage in this game based on the level and experience of their players, and they remain the favorite to win this match. For more information on open lines, visit our sportsbooks.
