Egypt 0-0 Colombia
There’s only a couple of days before the excitement of the World Cup engulfs the world in a frenzy. The countries that will make an appearance in the biggest football tournament are in the midst of their preparation to make it as far as they can in the tournament.
Supporters of Egypt and Colombia expect their national teams to show fantastic football results during the group stages and make it to the knockout stages. Given that in mind, winning against a fellow World Cup attendee would have boosted their confidence by a whole lot.
However, fans and neutrals who gathered at Stadio Atleti Azzurri d’Italia saw the two clubs play to a draw. While this news may disappoint neutrals that made punts at betting sites like SBOBET.com, it is important to note that the contents of the game were far from boring.
Highlights of the Game
Both nations brought their best as they both tried to eke out a morale-boosting win for their World Cup preparations. Jose Pekerman and Hector Cuper both fielded their teams to a 4-2-3-1 formation to provide a balance of offence and defence.
Of course, it’s no secret that the Pharaohs missed injured Liverpool star Mohamed Salah up front as the Cafeteros hounded their defence for most of the game.
It didn’t take long for the stars to warm up and threaten the Egyptian backline. James Rodriguez whipped a beautiful cross to Radamel Falcao while being surrounded by red shirts. The move could have ended in a goal if not for the ball flying off to the side of the goal.
Egypt tried to answer back with a long shot attempt by Tarek Hamed and an almost open chance by Abdalla El Said. El Said’s attack was especially dangerous but was fortunately stopped by David Ospina’s rush off the line.
Colombia were quick to fire back blanks after Egypt’s successive misses. Juan Cuadrado fired a beautiful early cross from the right wing that bent to the far post and into Andres Uribe’s head. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t able to control the ball and it also flew out for a goal kick.
Ahmed Hegazi also had a crack at goal during a first-half corner. However, he was unable to make it on time for a potential sitter when the football bulleted into the ground in front of goal and ricocheted away.
James Rodriguez (who, by the way, has his own cryptocurrency) showed off his Bayern Munich form by unfurling a beautiful free kick from way outside the box. It took a great save from Mohamed El Shenawy to deflect the ball into another corner.
It was then El Shenawy’s turn to rush out the box when Cuadrado was left alone. Fortunately for him, his gamble paid off when the Juventus winger missed what should have been an easy chip. Ospina was also hustling when a scramble in front of his goal saw the ball float into the waiting head of Ramadan Sobhi. It took him a fantastic acrobatic save to stop Colombia from going down.
All of what I mentioned above happened in the first half alone. The second half saw less lively action from both sides. Shot attempts were paltry and barely challenged the keepers. Things especially got harder for Colombia when Egypt implemented a five-man defensive scheme.
Key Statistics
Colombia had possession for 68% of the game, and the number of shots and corners they took was a testament to their dominance of possession. However, they weren’t able to break the Pharaohs who were likely trying a strategy that they will use to make it past the World Cup group stages.
If they will indeed turtle down their first two games Uruguay and Russia, then they need to be careful with cards: they incurred 20 fouls through 90 minutes of heavy defensive football. There is no way that they can pull this off in the group stages without a single one of them getting carded. Cuper needs to find a delicate balance between aggression and discipline for his lads.
What’s Next?
Egypt will continue to wait for Salah, who might make an earlier return to the national side, as they continue their preparations. Their final tune-up game is against Belgium before they head to Russia and prepare for Luis Suarez’s Uruguay.
Meanwhile, Colombia are likely headed to Russia earlier. Their friendly against Egypt is the only one they booked ahead of the World Cup, so the team may take a break or head into a more intensive camp for the final two weeks of the competition.
Whatever happens, one thing is for sure: these nations will make football news when they finally play!
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