European big boys Belgium will face African heavyweights Egypt in their opening World Cup game in Group G on 16th June at the Seattle Stadium.
For the game, here we present our preview and prediction.
This is Belgium’s 15th appearance at the World Cup while Egypt have qualified only three times previously and are returning after a gap of four years as they missed the World Cup in Qatar.
Belgium will go into this game on the back of a13-game unbeaten streak while Egypt lost to Brazil in a friendly game before the World Cup. However, both teams made light work of the World Cup qualification. Egypt qualified top of their CAF qualification group, scoring 19 goals in 9 matches with star forward Mohamed Salah leading the way with 9 goals. Their opponents, Belgium also topped their UEFA qualification group with five wins and three draws against Wales, North Macedonia, Kazakhstan and Liechtenstein.
Belgium might have to watch out for Romelu Lukaku’s match fitness as he is returning from injury and the other player that could be out due to injury is Zeno Dabast. Egypt has a full squad available for this game.
As for the match-up, these two have never faced each other at the World Cup but they have featured in two friendlies with both teams winning one. If we compare the two squads, both squads have some standout and experienced players with young talent but Belgium does possess a stronger squad. Kevin de Bruyne, Jérémy Doku, Youri Tielemans and Charles de Ketalaere will be key to their chances while Egypt will be led by the influential Mo Salah along with Omar Marmoush and Trézéguet.
Taking into consideration that most of Belgium’s players compete in top European leagues and play in high quality games as compared to most of the Egyptian players who play in the relatively inferior leagues, Belgium are the outright favourites. Also, they have more experience of playing in World Cup games and hence we believe they should be able to win this fixture comfortably and open their world cup campaign with a win. However, they should be wary of Egypt’s attacking prowess.
Score Prediction: Belgium 3–1 Egypt
Venue: Seattle Stadium, Seattle, Washington, USA
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