World Cup 2018: Saudi Arabia, Egypt Play For Pride In Group A Dead Rubber
Saudi Arabia and Egypt, both eliminated, will play for pride in their final Group A clash at Volgograd Arena.
Highlights
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Egypt and Saudi Arabia clash in a Group A match
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Both teams have been eliminated from the World Cup
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Egypt's World Cup has been a fairytale turned horror story
No-one expected Egypt, Morocco or Saudi Arabia to win the FIFA World Cup 2018 but for all three to crash out on the same day was a disaster for Arab football. Saudi Arabia will play for pride when they face Egypt, another eliminated team, in their final Group A clash at Volgograd Arena on Monday. Saudi Arabia have played two matches in the tournament so far – against Russia and Uruguay and suffered defeats on both occasions. Saudi Arabia have conceded six goals in their previous two matches and failed to score a single one. On the other hand, Egypt have lost their previous two encounters but managed to add one goal to their tally in the mega event.
Saudi Arabia were thumped 5-0 by Russia and then lost 1-0 to an unconvincing Uruguay.
Saudi's Argentinian coach Juan Antonio Pizzi was asked by journalists why the team had failed to make Saudi Arabian fans "proud" of their team.
Turki al-Sheikh, the Saudi Arabian sports authority chief, lashed out at the players after the Russia debacle in a Twitter video, claiming the performance was a personal insult.
"We've done everything we could for the national team players," he thundered, before adding: "They've blackened my face."
Egypt's tournament has been a fairytale turned horror story with the injury saga of their key player Mohamed Salah.
Liverpool's top scorer last season missed the defeat to Uruguay with a shoulder injury suffered in last month's Champions League final.
Egypt crashed out of the World Cup after losing to Russia 3-1 on Tuesday, with Salah returning to action for the first time in three weeks following a shoulder injury but unable to save his team.
Likely Saudi Arabia XI: Al-Mosailem, Al-Berik, Hawsawi, Al-Bulaihi, Al-Shahrani, Otayf, Al-Faraj, Al-Shehri, Kanno, Al-Dawsari, Al-Muwallad.
Likely Egypt XI: El-Hadary, Fathy, Gabr, Hegazi, Abdel Shafy, Elneny, Hamed, Salah, Said, Trezeguet, Kahraba.
(With AFP Inputs)
Saudi Arabia
Egypt