Saudi Arabia and Egypt will be playing for pride when the sides clash on Monday the 25th of June 2018.
Saudi Arabia and Egypt have only pride to play for in their final World Cup game on Monday at the Volgograd Arena as the two nations battle to avoid finishing bottom of Group A.
Defeat for either Saudi Arabia or Egypt in this game would see them be the first team to lose all three group games in this tournament.
The Pharaohs have faced the Green Falcons six times, winning four games, losing once and drawing another.
Saudi Arabia vs Egypt | Monday 25 June | Volgograd Arena (16:00)
To Win (90 Mins)
Saudi Arabia 33/10
Draw 24/10
Egypt 17/20
Saudi Arabia
A solid performance from Saudi Arabia against Uruguay wasn’t enough to keep their hopes of progressing to the knockout stages alive as they lost 1-0, courtesy of Luis Suarez’s goal. But the match did mark a huge improvement after the Saudis were embarrassed 5-0 by Russia in the World Cup opener.
The Saudis are yet to score at the tournament, so they’ll be desperate to find the back of the net before they leave Russia. More importantly, Hector Cuper’s side will want to find a win.
The Green Falcons are looking for their first World Cup victory since shocking Belgium in the second of two group-stage wins at USA’94. They are winless in their last 12 World Cup matches (W0 D2 L10) and have lost their last four games in the competition without scoring a single goal.
Defenders Mansoor Al-Harbi and Ali Al-Bulaihi, Omar Hawsawi are injury doubts but the latter two are expected to be fit and start for boss Juan Antonio Pizzi.
Egypt
The World Cup has not gone to plan for Egypt and Mohamed Salah with the Liverpool star failing to make his mark in Russia. Egypt, making their first World Cup appearance since 1990, narrowly lost to 1-0 to Uruguay in their opening match, which Salah missed as he recovered from his Champions League final injury with Liverpool. The Pharaohs then went down 3-1 to hosts Russia.
Salah at least has a goal to his name – scoring with his only shot on target against Russia last time out – but he looks short on confidence after being rushed back from a shoulder injury.
The Liverpool star will fancy his chances of scoring against one of the tournament’s leakiest defences. If Salah brings his magic touch there will be little that Saudi Arabia can do. Hollywoodbets have him at 9/10 as an Anytime Goalscorer and 24/10 to get the first goal.
Veteran goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary will be hoping for game-time which will see him become the oldest player to play at a World Cup at 45 years and 161 days old.
Verdict: Egypt Win + Salah – Anytime Goalscorer (53/20)
Both nations are playing to avoid finishing bottom of Group A and I’m expecting it to be a tight game. That said, Egypt will be looking for their first ever World Cup win and I fancy them to get it with Salah instrumental for his side. Use Hollywoodbets’ Same Match Betbuilder and take Egypt to win plus Salah to Score Anytime.
