Egypt World Cup 2018

Egypt came through the qualifying process with relative ease to make it to their third World Cup finals tournament, and their first since 1990. Egypt are not a nation known for their footballing prowess, so it’s no surprise they haven’t made many appearances at World Cup finals tournaments.

History at the World Cup

Their debut came in the second ever World Cup, in 1934, where they were beaten 4-2 by Hungary in the first round. Fifty-six years later, they qualified for their second finals at Italia 1990. On that occasion, they were drawn in a group with England, Republic of Ireland, and the Netherlands. They put up a fantastic fight but finished bottom of the group after two draws and a 1-0 defeat to England. Now, twenty-eight years later, and after failing to qualify for six consecutive finals, Egypt will again get the chance to compete on the world stage. World Cup Finals

• Appearances – 2
• Previous Best Performance – Group Stage / Round One

How they qualified

Egypt came through the Confederation of African Football qualifying process with relative ease. In the second round, they beat Chad 4-1 on aggregate after two legs to advance to the group stages. They were then drawn against Uganda, Ghana, and Congo in the group stage.

Mo Salah played a huge part in helping them top that group. The Liverpool forward scored five goals as Egypt won four, drew one, and lost one to finish four points ahead of second-placed Uganda and qualify for the finals in Russia.

Coach/Manager

Argentinian Hector Cupa is the manager of the Egypt national team, having been appointed in March 2015.

He has received support from the Egyptian FA after guiding the team to qualify for their first World Cup in twenty-eight years. This is despite them falling short at the 2017 AFCON, losing 2-1 to Cameroon in the final.

Cupa has been in management since 1993, so has plenty of experience and has already helped to improve Egypt as a football team.

Star Players

The stand-out star of the Egypt squad is Liverpool forward Mo Salah, who has netted more than thirty goals for the national team in just over fifty appearances.

Defender Ahmed Hegazi, of West Bromwich Albion, is a vital part of the Egypt defence, and English fans will recognise a few other players including Mohamed Elneny of Arsenal and Ramadan Sobhi of Stoke City.

Vice-captain Ahmed Fathy provides a wealth of experience to the team, having made over 120 appearances for his country.

Egypt World Cup 2018: Assessing Their Chances & Odds

Egypt have been given a fantastic chance of advancing to the second round of the World Cup for the first time in their history, in Group A with hosts Russia, Uruguay, and Saudi Arabia.

The bookmakers price Uruguay and Russia as the two teams most likely to advance, but Russia are the lowest ranked team in the entire tournament and Egypt could be good value at odds of around 6/4 to qualify for the next round.

We definitely believe Egypt have enough quality and experience in their squad to see them through to the last 16, and they would likely meet Spain or Portugal in the knock-out stage. That is where we think the adventure will end for Egypt.

Our Egypt World Cup Prediction

We truly believe Uruguay will top Group A, and then it will be a straight fight between Egypt and Russia for second spot in the group. If home advantage isn’t enough to carry the Russians through, Egypt could upset a nation by pipping the hosts to the runners-up position behind Uruguay. A meeting with Spain or Portugal would come next, which we think they would lose quite convincingly. Our prediction is that Egypt may possibly pip Russia to second spot in Group A, to make it through to the last 16 for the first time in their history.