Uruguay 1-0 Egypt: 3 takeaways
Uruguay bested Egypt by the skin of their teeth in the most hotly-anticipated match of Group A. Here are three takeaways from the match.
Egypt held their own against perennial World Cup darkhorses Uruguay for the first 80 minutes of Friday’s World Cup Group A game. Unfortunately for the Pharaohs, with talisman Mohamed Salah still recovering from his Champions League final shoulder injury, they were unable to generate in the final third.
Jose Gimenez’s 89th-minute header undid all the hard work and discipline which had defined the majority of Egypt’s performance. If not for Luis Suarez lacking his usual deadly bite in the final third and Edinson Cavani hitting the woodwork off a free-kick near the box around the time the Egyptian defense started to falter, it could have been a score closer to yesterday’s 5-0, but that won’t make the manner of the defeat sting any less. Here are three takeaways.
1. Uruguay’s midfield is their weak link
At one point late in the first half, Diego Godin got so exasperated with his midfield players that he dribbled the ball well past the halfway line on his own, past Arsenal midfielder Mohamed Elneny, to try and set up the attack himself. While this is a testament to the 34-year-old center-back’s quality, the amount of sloppy passes and giveaways against what was perceived to be a vastly inferior Egyptian midfield may bode poorly for La Celeste in matches where they aren’t 34 places higher than their opponents in the FIFA rankings.
The good news for manager Oscar Tabarez is that Egypt were widely considered the next strongest team in the group and their next opponents, Saudi Arabia, are coming off a 5-0 battering. The match also gave Uruguay some much-needed playing time. There are reasons to hope their fluency improves.
Interestingly, the victory was Uruguay’s first in their opening match of a World Cup in 48 years, when they beat Egypt’s neighbor, Israel, 2-0. So maybe this is much ado about nothing.
2. Set pieces
Uruguay looked at their best on set pieces, with with Egypt’s surprise goalkeeping selection Mohamed El Shenawi doing his best to stop multiple golden opportunities for Cavani and Suarez off corners. However, with a lack of protection from his wall on a free-kick in the 88th minute the thing that saved him was the woodwork, perfectly summarizing an aggravating day for Uruguay’s normally deadly strike partnership. Egypt then fouled substitute Carlos Sanchez, who bopped his free-kick high in the box, where Gimenez, unmarked, buried Egypt’s hopes of a point.
Egypt, in addition to looking wobbly defending them, didn’t generate any corners of their own. This isn’t necessarily a cause for concern as statistical analysis has repeatedly rebuffed the usefulness of corners in attack, but it is a reflection of how much Egypt struggled going forward. And though the defense looked compact and organized, with Salah on the bench Egypt were lacking that presence in the final third which could have gotten them set pieces or, preferably, goals.
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3. No Salah equals no attack
Egypt’s manager, Hector Cuper, will undoubtedly be second guessed for bringing on Ramadan Sobhi for the ineffective Amr Warda with his last substitution in the 82nd minute instead of Salah, who spent his birthday languishing on the bench. Coming off a three week layoff, not starting Salah was reasonable, but once Cuper saw how ineffective his forwards were at generating pressure it would have been a worthy gamble to see what Salah could do to force Uruguay’s defenders to look uncomfortable.
Instead, Cuper seemed to play for the draw. The organization nearly paid off, but though Russia and Saudi Arabia aren’t of the same caliber as Uruguay, it would be foolish to consider the Pharaoh’s remaining fixtures as anything other than must-win. To win you need goals and for Egypt to get goals, clearly they need Salah.