Egypt-sudan preview

it is derby time, egypt and Sudan will play today in round 2 for group c in what is considered the derby of the nile. egypt won 4-2 against Cameroon , while Sudan lost 3-0 from Zambia. it looks like the atmosphere of a derby is present in the press statements from the Sudanese side and other things.

everyone will be expecting a comfortable win today with a wide score. but the match will not be as easy as that. after Egypt’s great performance in its first match against Cameroon and scoring 4 fabulous goals, expectations became very high from the Egyptian team. the attacking potential that the team showed to us make us expect a goal festival in Sudan who already conceded 3 from Zambia.

because it is a derby, you can expect anything. usually Sudanese players play serious especially if they are playing against egypt and knowing that they lost 6-1 in the last match between the two teams, you can imagine how would they behave in this match. in egypt-Sudan matches , usually Sudan players become very physical using their tall and powerful bodies. on the other hand the Egyptian team has more skills and has technical abilities far from what the Sudanese team has.

in preparation for this match, egypt had a lot of problems in training. they couldn’t train on bababa yara stadium as scheduled in their program because of bad organization from the organizing committee. instead, they trained in a school field that has no lights and the training was only for 20 minutes!!!.

while all the tension is coming from the Sudanese camp, the Egyptian camp is focused and calm. on the other hand, abdalllah mazda , Sudan’s coach made a statement in which he said ” it isn’t important to go to the second round but it is very important to beat egypt”!!!!. also, Sudanese players were very violent against the crew of the Egyptian tv who were trying to make interviews with them, they beat them and broke the cameras!!!

the match is very important for egypt because it is considered our gate for the second round. if egypt won the 3 points it will put its legs in the second round and will play with Zambia calmly and it will also give hassan shehata a chance to try new players or different strategies and play as he like against Zambia. it is also important for Sudan which if lost today will book its tickets home.

hassan shehata will probably play with a different formation, he will increase the midfield players and play with a 4-4-2 formation.

event: egypt-Sudan, group c second round
time: 21:30 (Cairo local time), 19:30 (Ghana local time)
place: baba yara stadium, kumasi
squad:
(egypt)
el hadary
ahmed fathi…….wael gomaa…..mahmoud fatallah…..tarek el sayed
ahmed hassan…….hosni abd raboh…mohamed shawky
mohamed zidan
amr zaki…………….emad meteb

absentees:none , every one is ready

key matchups:

players vs opponent respect: the most important thing in this match is that Egyptian players enter the match with the same spirit that was there in Cameroon match.and they must respect Sudan if they want to win.
players vs violence: violence is expected in this match especially from Sudan player. i hope players can finish the match safely without injuries.

prediction: 4-0 for egypt